When A Heart Breaks
by lolitarun
Summary: Blaine is falling apart, and Kurt is the only one he can think of who can help him.  But helping Blaine put himself back together may be the most difficult thing he's ever tried to do.
1. Tragedy

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Glee or any of these characters… if I did, Karofsky wouldn't exist anymore, Jesse wouldn't have been such an asshole (albeit one I believe legitimately fell for Rachel), and there would be a LOT more Blaine.

**A/n: So this is a tough story. It's pretty intense emotionally, and it's LONG. Longer than any other one-shot I've ever written, both by the number of words and the length of time it took me to write it. Fair warning - this is going to make a lot of people cry.**

Kurt didn't like churches. Or funerals. Or anything dealing with death. He had barely slept for two days, doing his best to stay by Blaine's side through all of this. The older boy needed his support, and Kurt had done his best to be there through all of the funeral preparations, the unwanted visitors, and everything else that had to be done.

He'd disappeared from school a week earlier without any warning. Kurt had called and texted at least a hundred times before Blaine had responded, and now Kurt felt awful for bothering him. The response had been short and completely uninformative:

_**I'm fine. Family emergency, be back in a couple of days**_**.**

And that was all Kurt had heard in the course of five days. Two days earlier he'd gotten a phone call from Blaine in the middle of the night.

* * *

Kurt groaned as he heard his cell phone start to ring. He rolled over and picked up the phone from his bedside table, glancing at the screen before he answered. He definitely wasn't expecting any phone calls in the middle of the night. "Blaine? It's the middle of the night…"

"_K-Kurt_?" Kurt felt his heart break as he heard the tears in Blaine's voice. He suddenly didn't care what time it was.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Kurt sat up and got out of his bed quickly, rummaging around trying to find clothes because he could tell that Blaine needed someone without even knowing what was going on. He completely ignored Finn's groans about how it was too early for anyone to be up.

"_God… Kurt. I… I need you. Y-you're the only one who can understand_…"

"Okay… I'm coming. Where are you?" Kurt picked up his school bag and dumped out its contents, throwing some random clothes inside just in case. He didn't know what was going on, but a phone call in the middle of the night was never a good thing. And if it was that bad, Kurt wasn't sure he was going to be able to leave Blaine by himself any time soon.

"_Can… can you just meet me at my house? I can't stay here. I don't know if I can do this…_"

"I'm on my way, okay? Just hang on." Kurt slipped his feet into his shoes, turning to Finn's mumbling form. "Finn, tell my dad I'm going to Reynoldsburg. I don't know when I'll be back."

"What? Kurt, it's the middle of the night!"

"It's an emergency, Finn! I'll call in a few hours… just go back to sleep." Kurt rushed up the stairs and out of the basement, grabbing his keys as he made his way towards his SUV. "Blaine, are you still there?"

"_Yeah… yeah, I'm here._"

"Do you want me to stay on the phone? We can talk…"

"_Y-yeah. Please. I just… I can't be alone right now. I just want to hear your voice._"

"Blaine, what's going on? Are you okay?"

"_She's dead, Kurt. Oh God… I can't believe she's dead…_" Kurt switched on his Bluetooth headset as Blaine trailed off, turning on his car and starting the two hour drive to Blaine's house.

"Your mom?" Kurt asked, praying that he was wrong. Blaine only had his mother; the older boy's father had been out of his life for years, only sending a check each month to make sure that Blaine and his mother were taken care of and mailing checks to Dalton to cover tuition. There wasn't any other family.

"_I don't know what I'm going to do, Kurt… I'm a teenager for fuck's sake! I'm not supposed to be alone!_" Kurt heard what he thought was the sound of brakes screeching.

"Blaine, are you driving?"

"_I have to go home. I have to get away from the hospital… I've been there all week, I can't stay there anymore_."

"Okay, but Blaine… you need to calm down. Just focus on driving right now, don't think about it."

"_Okay… okay. Just don't leave me alone…_"

"I'm not going to. I'm going to be there as soon as I can."

* * *

The sun was slowly starting to come over the horizon as Kurt pulled into the driveway of Blaine's house.

"Hey, I'm here. Where are you?" Kurt asked, parking his car behind Blaine's in the driveway.

"_Front porch. I… I couldn't make myself go inside_." Kurt got out of the car quickly, dropping his Bluetooth headset back into the cupholder and grabbing his phone as he hurried to find Blaine. The older boy was curled up on a chair, wrapped in a blanket that Kurt recognized as being the one Blaine generally kept in the trunk of his car for emergencies. It was old and ratty, but it was warm. And given the fact that it was freezing outside, Kurt was thankful that Blaine had gotten the blanket out.

"Blaine?" Kurt walked up to the older boy, kneeling down next to the chair and gently running a hand through Blaine's curls. He could see tears glistening in Blaine's eyes behind his glasses, making the boy's vacant stare even more heartbreaking than it would have been otherwise. Kurt hadn't even seen Blaine in his glasses other than a couple of days when Blaine had pulled an all-nighter and couldn't get his contacts to go in. Judging by the dark circles under his eyes, it had been days since Blaine had actually slept. "What do you need me to do?"

"I don't know… I don't know what to do, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I don't know who to call…"

"Okay. Let's start with getting out of the cold. Where are your keys?" Kurt took the keys from Blaine's hand, walking over to the front door and opening it before he walked back over to Blaine and gently pulled the boy to his feet. He held the blanket around the older boy's shoulders as they walked inside, shutting and locking the door behind them. "You need sleep first."

Blaine didn't resist Kurt's efforts to steer him up the stairs and down the hall to what Kurt knew was Blaine's bedroom. The bed was still made, indicative that Blaine hadn't been home in a while. Blaine never made his bed. But Kurt simply pulled back the blankets and helped Blaine into the bed, pulling off the older boy's shoes and covering him with the blankets.

"Stay with me, please," Blaine begged. Kurt nodded as he pulled the glasses off Blaine's face and carefully placed them on the nightstand.

"Okay. I'm just going to lay down too." Kurt moved around to the other side of the bed, kicking off his own shoes and crawling under the blankets next to Blaine, reaching over to hold the older boy's hand. He was a little surprised when Blaine turned and pulled him closer, almost as if he needed the comfort of feeling Kurt's body pressed against him. But the boy's eyes closed and he drifted off to sleep before Kurt could say or do anything about it, and he didn't think he should move away when Blaine clearly needed his presence.

* * *

Kurt glanced down at the screen on his phone for what felt like the millionth time that day. His dad was on his way to Blaine's house to help the boy figure everything out. Kurt had gotten yelled when he'd finally woken up and called home, but as soon as Burt Hummel had heard the explanation the man had agreed to drive down and do what he could.

Blaine had slept on and off all morning; Kurt had done what he could around the house, checking on Blaine constantly to make sure that the older boy didn't need anything. Now there was nothing more for him to do but wait. Blaine was in the shower getting ready to go take care of all the things that had to be done, including a trip to the funeral home to make arrangements.

The doorbell rang and Kurt jumped up from the couch, thankful for his father's arrival. He opened the door and wrapped his arms around his father in a hug. "Thank Gaga you're here…"

"How is Blaine holding up?" Burt asked, walking into the house and closing the door behind him. Kurt led the man into the living room so that they could sit down until Blaine came downstairs.

"He's still in shock, I think. He slept most of the morning, and now he's getting a shower," Kurt replied.

"How about you? Are you doing okay with this?"

"I'm fine, dad. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I can think of a lot of reasons, actually. Have either of you eaten anything yet?" Burt asked.

"No. I made some coffee a little while ago, but Blaine said he wasn't hungry and nothing really sounded appealing to me."

"We'll stop when we go out and get something for the two of you to eat. Does he have any family we need to call?"

"His dad's alive somewhere. But Blaine hasn't talked to the man since he was a kid." Kurt looked up as he heard Blaine shuffling down the stairs, toweling his hair dry. The older boy was only wearing a pair of jeans with a belt, almost as if he'd forgotten that he was getting dressed. Kurt watched from where he was sitting as Blaine's feet hit the tile at the bottom of the stairs and the older boy sat down with a soft _thud_. Kurt watched for a moment as Blaine leaned forward and buried his face in his hands, the boy's shoulders shaking in silent sobs.

Kurt slowly padded over to Blaine and sat down, putting an arm around him and just holding the older boy as he cried.

"I'm here…" Kurt whispered.

"I'm sorry… I shouldn't…"

"Just shut up and cry. You need this. Go ahead… let it out." Kurt tightened his grip around Blaine's shoulders and just held the boy for a while, until finally Blaine's shoulders stopped shaking and Blaine sat up. His face was red and wet, but he looked calmer than he had before.

"Thank you. I needed that."

"I know. It won't be the last time, either," Kurt replied. He sighed and reached up to wipe tears from the older boy's face. "But I'm here. You don't have to be alone through this."

"I don't think I can do this, Kurt. I don't think I can go down there and make all of the plans and act like I can handle all of this because _I can't_."

"I'm sure you're stronger than you think, Blaine. Besides, I called my dad. He came to help, if you want him to…" Kurt watched silently as Blaine nodded.

"Yeah… okay." Kurt smiled slightly, ruffling the older boy's wet hair.

"Go finish getting dressed. I'll bring you some coffee, and then my dad said he would take us to get something to eat when we go out."

* * *

Kurt watched Blaine carefully as the boy got out of Kurt's SUV. At the restaurant it had been easy to get Blaine out of the car, but Kurt felt like he had been standing outside the vehicle for ages while Burt tried to coax Blaine out. Kurt could see that there were fresh tears in Blaine's eyes as he exited the car, and Kurt reached out and took his hand in an attempt to comfort the older boy. Kurt knew that it wasn't really possible for him to make the pain go away, but he wanted to be there to at least try to help.

Kurt's dad had a box full of paperwork they'd spent almost an hour gathering from various places around the house and from the safe deposit box at the bank, things that were essential for what they were about to do. Insurance policies, birth certificates, and the like.

"I don't think I can handle this…" Blaine whispered, leaning his head against Kurt's shoulder as they walked towards the building.

"That's why my dad and I are here. You can do this… we're going to help."

Blaine managed to make it through the bulk of the arrangements without breaking down. Something told Kurt that having something to do, having details to pay attention to, played a big part in keeping the boy together. In the end, it was picking out the casket that sent the boy over the edge, running out of the room and falling down to the floor by a trash can as he retched. There wasn't anything anyone could do but wait for it to be over as Kurt gently rubbed the older boy's back.

"I'm sorry… I just can't do this…" Blaine whispered, shaking his head as he stared absently down into the trashcan at the contents of his stomach. From the look on his face, Kurt could tell that Blaine wasn't actually seeing what was in the trashcan. "I… I can't be this strong. I'm not supposed to be doing this…"

"You're doing fine… you've been so strong already, Blaine." Kurt watched as Blaine shook his head.

"I can't do it anymore… please, Kurt. Let's just go."

"It's one more decision… one more thing to decide, a little bit of paperwork, and then we can go," Kurt reassured, taking the older boy's hand. He smiled up at the funeral director as the man handed him a bottle of water. Kurt uncapped the bottle and handed it over to the older boy, who took a few slow sips. Kurt stood up, taking Blaine's arm and gently helping him to his feet. "You can do this, okay? I know you can." Blaine just nodded, his eyes still absently staring as his body moved mechanically.

It took another twenty minutes to get through everything before they could leave, but Kurt was just thankful it was over. He wasn't sure if he was going to be able to keep Blaine from falling apart completely much longer.

Kurt had every intention of giving Blaine the front seat for the ride back to his house, but the older boy followed him into the backseat of the SUV as Burt got in the driver's seat. Kurt moved all the way across the seat, surprised when Blaine followed him as far as he could and buckled himself into the center seat so that he could curl himself up next to Kurt and tuck his head into the hollow between Kurt's shoulder and chin. Kurt carefully put an arm around Blaine's shoulders, gently rubbing the older boy's arm as they sat there. If it hadn't been for the circumstances, Kurt would have felt confused about the entire situation. But this… Kurt knew it was just that Blaine needed to feel that Kurt was there, to have a warm body he could curl up against and try to forget everything.

"Do we have to do anything else?" Blaine asked softly.

"The funeral home will take care of everything else. Except calling your family… but Kurt and I can take care of that when we get back to your house if you're not feeling up to it. We'll just need you to tell us who to call."

"I don't have any family to call… I don't even know if my mom had my dad's phone number. I don't even know anything about him…"

"We'll figure it out, okay?" Kurt was thankful for his father; Kurt didn't know what to do to help Blaine, but for some reason it seemed as though Burt knew _exactly_ what Blaine needed to hear. Or at least how to say what needed to be said in a way that would at least limit the pain the boy had to deal with.

"I'm not even sure I want to see him again… he just disappeared. All he ever bothered to send were checks. He couldn't even be bothered to remember my birthday…"

"Even if you don't want to see him, he needs to know. Especially if he was sending your mom money for you…" Burt began. Blaine shut his eyes as the man spoke and Kurt shot his father a look in the rearview mirror to indicate that it probably wasn't a good time for that particular conversation. Blaine didn't need to know that Kurt's dad knew about the financial arrangement there. It wasn't necessary; that was something that could be discussed later, when Blaine wasn't on the verge of losing it.

The remainder of the drive home was silent, with Blaine curled up against Kurt. Kurt did his best to ignore the growing wet spot on the front of his shirt, but he wanted to do _something _to try and make things better for Blaine. He couldn't think of anything that would actually make it hurt less for the older boy. And Kurt hated that he couldn't do anything for Blaine.

Kurt looked down at Blaine as they pulled into the driveway of the boy's house, smiling down at him as Kurt realized that Blaine had fallen asleep against his chest. "I hate to wake him up… I don't think he slept at all while his mom was in the hospital," Kurt commented.

"What happened to her? Did he tell you?"

"No. He just sort of disappeared from school…" Kurt began. "I think he mentioned her being sick a while ago. But it didn't sound like it was that bad."

"Obviously whatever it was ended up being worse than he let on…" Kurt sighed before reaching down to unbuckle his seatbelt and gently shaking Blaine to wake him up. "Hey… we're back at your place."

"I don't want to go inside… I don't want to be anywhere near this place."

"I don't know that you're going to have much of a choice, kid…" Burt began. Kurt and Blaine both turned to see the vehicle that had pulled up next to them in the driveway.

* * *

"Look, my son and I are going to be here at least until after the funeral. I can talk to my wife about afterwards…"

"Mr. Hummel, that's all well and good but it's my job to make sure that Blaine is taken care of." Kurt turned so that he could see Blaine's face as they sat at the top of the stairs, listening in on the conversation that was taking place in the living room between Kurt's father and the social worker that had shown up.

"He's one of my son's best friends, Miss Carter. And right now what Blaine needs is some stability that you can't provide."

"And you think that your family can?" Kurt watched Blaine's face, trying to figure out what the older boy was thinking.

"I can put a roof over his head, keep him in the same school. My son's mother died when he was nine. My family is about as stable as you're going to find in this country, Miss Carter."

Kurt watched as Blaine stood up and walked the rest of the way up the stairs, heading into his bedroom. He followed immediately, more concerned about what Blaine was thinking than the argument that was going on in the living room without them.

"Hey…"

"You notice that neither of them are thinking about asking me what I want. They're planning out _my _future in there…" Kurt watched as Blaine paced around the room silently fuming for a moment.

"They just want to do what's best for you, Blaine."

"And I don't get a say in that?" Blaine asked, turning to Kurt and crossing his arms. Kurt watched silently as Blaine sat down on the side of the bed and sighed. "I just want them to ask for my opinion. I want to control _something_ about my life. I _need_ to control something. Because I'm not used to being so completely out of control and I don't know if I can take much more of this."

"I can talk to them…" Kurt began.

"Please. I need this." Kurt nodded and turned to walk out of the room. "If your dad asks, I'm going to say yes. I just don't think I can deal with not having any control right now."

The argument didn't seem to be getting any closer to a resolution as Kurt walked down the stairs. "I understand that this is your job… but that kid doesn't have anyone but his friends. And I'm not going to let you put him in some foster home – or a group home – that's going to take him away from that." Kurt stopped at the bottom of the stairs with his arms crossed.

"Have either of you thought about asking Blaine what _he_ wants to do?" Kurt asked. He watched as the social worker and his father both turned around to face him. "He wants to be in control of something in his life. This is something he should be given a say about."

"He's sixteen years old…" the social worker started.

"He's old enough to live by himself if he wants. If he's old enough to do that, why isn't he old enough to decide who he's going to live with?"

"That's the best idea I've heard all day." Kurt smiled slightly at his father, glad that the man was on his side. It made things easier. "Blaine should get to decide if he wants to."

"I'm supposed to make sure that Blaine's best interests are being taken care of…" the social worker began.

"Isn't it in his best interest for him to be happy?" Burt asked. "Look, if you want to come and visit our house or whatever the hell it is you do for foster families, I'm okay with that. But if that kid chooses to come to live with my family, then that's where he's going to be." Kurt watched as his father stood up. "Where's Blaine? We need to talk to him."

"I'll get him to come down." Kurt turned and went back up the stairs, ducking his head into Blaine's room. He was still sitting on the bed, just staring at the floor a few feet away. "My dad wants to talk to you, at least. He agreed with my suggestion that they ask what you want. Not sure the social worker is buying it, though."

"Maybe she'll see it once I talk to them…" Blaine started, standing up. Kurt followed the older boy downstairs and stayed at the edge of the room as Blaine sat down on the couch near Kurt's dad.

* * *

"I don't know how I'm going to do this… I can't even tie my own fucking tie." Kurt looked up from where he was putting on his shoes, smiling slightly at the mess Blaine had made of the black silk tie around his neck. Kurt stood up and walked over with his left shoe still untied, reaching up to fix it. It only took him a minute to fix it into a full Windsor knot, just like the one they all used at school.

"There… you look good."

"I feel like I'm going to throw up again. I don't want to do this…"

"You can do this. Two hours, and then you can relax." Kurt reached out and put a hand on Blaine's shoulder. "I'll be right there with you the entire time."

"You shouldn't have to be… this shouldn't be happening…" Blaine began. Kurt watched as the tears started to slip down his face again and leaned in to wrap his arms around Blaine's body in a hug. "I just want things to go back to normal. I could deal with my mom being sick. She wasn't supposed to die…"

"I wish there was something I could say…"

"I just don't understand… she had diabetes for years. Until a week ago she was fine, and then all of a sudden she just… wasn't." Kurt couldn't help the tears that started to well in his own eyes as he heard what had happened; it was all too similar to what had happened to his own mother.

"I know it's hard. But you can get through this… it's not going to be easy, but you're going to be okay."

"I don't want to go, Kurt. I don't even know most of these people…"

"You'll regret it if you don't go. You may not think so, but it'll help if you go… it's sort of an important step," Kurt replied.

"I'm not ready to say goodbye. It's too soon…"

"I know. It's not fair… but you'll regret it every day for the rest of your life if you don't do this now."

"I keep forgetting she isn't here… I walked into her room this morning while you were in the shower to ask her a question." Kurt smiled slightly as Blaine pulled away from the hug, remembering how he had done the same thing after his own mother had died. "That's normal, right? Forgetting that she's gone?"

"Yeah, it is. But eventually you'll start to remember. And it'll start to hurt less."

"As much as it hurts right now, I'm not sure it'll ever get any better," Blaine whispered. "She was everything I had, and now she's gone." Kurt sighed, sitting back down on the bed so that he could finish tying his shoes.

"Boys, we need to get going. Carole and Finn are meeting us at the funeral home."

"They don't have to come…" Blaine began.

"They want to come. To be here for you. That's why we're all here," Burt replied. "You boys hurry up and finish getting ready. We need to leave in the next few minutes or we'll be late." Kurt nodded and stood up, checking his hair in the mirror one final time before he put a hand on Blaine's back to lead the older boy down the stairs.

The car ride was silent and tense; neither Hummel knew what to say, and Blaine seemed lost in thought throughout the entire ride. It was almost painful. As soon as the funeral home came into view, Kurt could see the way Blaine's body tensed. The older boy's knuckles were white from gripping the door handle as if it was going to run away from him and Kurt could see the muscles in Blaine's neck tighten uncomfortably. Kurt reached out and put a hand on Blaine's shoulder, gently squeezing it in an attempt to be reassuring.

"Relax…" Kurt whispered. He watched as a slight smile spread across Blaine's face for a moment. "It's okay. You can do this."

* * *

The sun beat down on the back of Kurt's neck as they walked towards the parking lot, leaving Blaine alone at the graveside for a few moments. He needed the time to say goodbye in his own way, without everyone crowding around him. But that didn't stop Kurt, Wes, and David from stopping at the edge of the cemetery to wait for him. They were his best friends.

"I can't believe he didn't say anything to any of us." Kurt glanced at David as the older boy spoke.

"I can. He didn't tell us the last time she wasn't doing well, either. Blaine has always thought that he had to take care of everything for himself," Wes replied.

"Well he can't do this alone. He needs us this time, even if he doesn't want to admit it," Kurt added. "He's moving in with us, for now at least. My dad invited him… and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have taken no for an answer after the conversation Blaine and I overheard with that social worker."

"He's going to be okay, right?" David asked, looking Kurt in the eye.

"I think so. He's a mess right now, but he has us. We just have to be here for him, when he's ready to talk." Kurt watched as Blaine started to walk away from the grave and took a deep breath. "Nothing you say can make it better, okay? For now, he just needs you to be here for him."

**A/n: So yeah, this has taken me over a week to write… it's probably one of the most intense pieces I've written since my dad's death, and it's the first thing I've written like this that didn't make me break down in tears as I wrote it. And it's probably one of my favorite things I've ever written.**


	2. Picking Up the Pieces

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Glee or any of these characters… if I did, Karofsky wouldn't exist anymore, Jesse wouldn't have been such an asshole (albeit one I believe legitimately fell for Rachel), and there would be a LOT more Blaine.

**A/n: So I know that originally this fic was only going to be one chapter, but several reviewers expressed an interest in continuing the story and the truth is there's so much more that could be said here. I'm going to continue, but be forewarned that chapters here will be coming MUCH slower than chapters on my other fics – I sort of like how long the original was, and I don't think it would be right to start putting up 1500-2000 word chapters here when I started off at over 5000 in my first chapter!**

Kurt glanced towards the stairs, wondering if Blaine was going to be coming down any time soon. He'd been waiting for what felt like hours, but in reality had only been about thirty minutes.

"Stop stressing so much… the water's running. Blaine's still in the shower." Kurt turned to where his father was sitting at the small kitchen table, eating breakfast. "Let him have his space…"

"I'm just worried about him… he went to sleep right after we got back from the funeral yesterday. He slept for seventeen straight hours…"

"He's exhausted, Kurt. The poor kid spent a week watching his mother die and he's barely had a chance to rest since then," Burt pointed out. "He's going to need some time, okay? We just have to let him deal with everything in his own way, at his own pace. And if that means that he spends more time asleep than awake for a while, then so be it."

"I want him to be okay… I want my friend back."

"And he will be okay… you just have to give him some time and space." Kurt nodded, picking up the pan he had been using and transferring some scrambled eggs onto a couple of plates that already had slices of toast and the turkey bacon Kurt's father had bought the day before. Kurt placed the plates on the kitchen table and started eating.

It was fairly obvious when the water stopped running upstairs because they were eating in complete silence. A few minutes later Kurt heard Blaine coming down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Morning," Blaine muttered, sitting down where Kurt had put the second plate of eggs and bacon. Kurt watched as the older boy simply stared down at the food for a few moments, as if he needed permission to eat the food. Kurt reached out and took the older boy's hand, squeezing it gently. "Thank you."

"How are you holding up, kid?" Kurt looked up at his dad and then at Blaine.

"Tired. I think I slept too long… I was just so exhausted." Blaine's hand pulled away as the older boy picked up his fork and started eating the breakfast Kurt had cooked for him. "This is really good."

"Thanks. Let me know if you need more to eat… there's still some eggs and bacon in the fridge, and it won't take long for me to cook them," Kurt replied.

"I'm not that hungry… this should be plenty." Kurt pulled his own hand back and started eating his breakfast again, only occasionally glancing over at the older boy's plate to make sure that the food was actually going in his stomach so that Kurt could relax a little by at least knowing that his friend wasn't starving himself or doing something stupid like that.

"So, tomorrow is Monday, and Kurt needs to go back to school. Not to mention that I have to get back to the garage."

"I haven't even started to pack…" Blaine began.

"There's no rush; you don't have to take everything right now. Just what you'll need until next weekend. We can come back on the weekends and get anything else you need or want."

"What time do you want to leave?"

"Like I said, there's no rush. Carole wants us home for dinner, but that still leaves us most of the day. You can take your time." Kurt watched as Blaine nodded, staring down at his plate once again. He wanted so much to be able to just wrap his arms around the boy and tell him that it was going to be okay. But that wouldn't be appropriate – he and Blaine were just friends, and Kurt remembered how false things like that sounded to people in Blaine's position. No matter how true it was, it wasn't what Blaine wanted to hear. He wasn't ready to hear all of that.

Kurt took a few more bites of his breakfast, watching as Blaine sat there and then pushed the plate away. "I'm going to go pack…"

"You should eat more than that, Blaine…" Burt began.

"I'm really not that hungry. I just want to pack my stuff and go." Blaine stood up and walked out of the dining room, leaving his plate almost completely untouched. Kurt sighed and went back to eating his own breakfast, hurrying so that he would be able to help Blaine.

"I'll take care of the dishes. I'm sure you want to make sure he's okay," Burt commented. Kurt nodded, drinking the last of his orange juice before he stood up.

"Thanks, Dad."

Kurt hurried up the stairs and into Blaine's room, standing in the doorway and watching the older boy for a moment as Blaine sat on the bed, his shoulders shaking silently. Kurt took a deep breath, knocking on the doorframe and moving slowly into the room and closer to the older boy. "Are you okay?" Kurt watched as Blaine looked up, the tears still obvious in his eyes as he forced a smile.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just… I'm having a hard time with this. I don't want to leave, but at the same time I don't want to stay here by myself. I know that I need to do this…" Blaine's voice trailed off as Kurt sat down next to him. "I don't even know what I should be packing."

"Clothes first. Toiletries," Kurt replied, trying to at least be helpful. He watched as Blaine smiled slightly. "Where's your suitcase? I'll help."

"There's one under the bed." Blaine got up and knelt down, digging under the bed and pulling out a large rolling suitcase. "It's not too big, is it?"

"Of course not… my parents wouldn't have offered to let you live with us if we didn't have room for you and your stuff." Kurt stood up, picking up the suitcase and placing it on the bed, before he walked over to Blaine's dresser and pulled open the top drawer to start packing up Blaine's clothes. He pulled the few pairs of underwear out of the drawer and put them into the suitcase.

"You don't have to pack my underwear…" Blaine began, walking over to the dresser and emptying the drawer himself. "Most of my clothes are at school…"

"I can stop by your room tomorrow after classes, pick some things up for you if you want."

"Your dad said we were going back to school tomorrow…"

"I'm going back to school tomorrow. You don't have to go back until you're ready," Kurt replied. He watched as Blaine stood at his dresser, refolding a shirt that hadn't even really needed to be folded again.

"What if I want to go back tomorrow?"

"It's your decision. But you shouldn't rush yourself, okay? You don't have to go right back to school…"

"I've already missed more than a week. Regionals are coming up soon, and I've got track practice and…"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down… Blaine, no one expects you to go right back to school or track or anything else. We want you back, but not until you're ready." Kurt walked over, letting his hand rest on Blaine's shoulder. "You need to take care of yourself first, okay? We'll all survive without you, and you'll catch up at school in no time… Wes, David, and I will help you. You don't have to rush things."

"I'm just… I'm afraid to not have something to do. I'm afraid that I'm going to lose it if I don't keep myself busy. I just need to do _something_."

"If that's what you need, then okay. But you don't have to decide right away, okay? You don't have to make a decision until tomorrow morning." Kurt was surprised when Blaine turned and wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist, burying his face into Kurt's neck. Kurt wrapped his arms around the other boy, closing his eyes and breathing in the older boy's scent. "It's okay, Blaine."

"It's not okay… I want things to be okay, but they're not. I'm not sure that they're ever going to be okay again," Blaine replied. Kurt didn't know what to say, mostly because he didn't know what he could say that would make Blaine feel better.

"I wish I could tell you that everything is going to be okay… I wish I could make it not hurt so much. But I can't. There's nothing anyone can say that'll help you. But I'm going to be here, whenever you need me. All you have to do is ask, and I'll be there."

"Can I just… can we just stay like this for a little while? I just… I need this."

"Okay."

* * *

Burt Hummel wasn't a fan of doing dishes, but he knew that the last thing Blaine needed was to be left alone. He was hurting, and he needed Kurt to be with him. So Burt offered to do the dishes for Kurt so that his son could check on Blaine and help the older boy pack.

Burt scraped the remainder of Blaine's breakfast down the garbage disposal, grinding it up. He wasn't expecting to hear the doorbell in the middle of washing up. He sighed, drying his hands and making his way to the front door.

"Magdalena, we had a deal."

Burt raised an eyebrow at the man standing in front of him, who was paying more attention to his Blackberry than to the fact that Burt wasn't the person he was looking for. The man was wearing an expensive looking suit, and he had dark hair that clearly curled if it was allowed to grow out. "I'm sorry… I'm not sure…" The man looked up, clearly surprised.

"Who are you? Where is Magdalena? Where's my son?" Burt sighed.

"You're Blaine's dad?"

"I'll ask the questions here – who are you?" The man sounded angry, so Burt decided it would be a better idea to answer him first.

"My name is Burt Hummel – my son Kurt is one of Blaine's best friends."

"And you're answering the door because…?"

"I'm sorry, Mr… sorry, I don't even know your name," Burt began.

"Anderson. Magdalena agreed to use my last name for Blaine. Speaking of which, where is she? She isn't returning my calls, and I'd rather get this over with without involving Blaine in any of the mess she's made."

"Mr. Anderson, she passed away early Thursday morning…" Burt watched as the man nodded.

"What's happening now? What's going to happen to Blaine?"

"My wife and I offered to let him stay with us for now. Obviously the two of you…"

"I don't have a relationship with Blaine, Mr. Hummel. That was the agreement I made with Blaine's mother – the agreement my wife insisted on when she found out about him. She would be furious if she even knew I was here right now. When he turns eighteen…"

"That's only a little over a year from now, Mr. Anderson."

"And if he wants to know me in a year, then my family will be more than happy to welcome him. But for now this is how things have to be. Give me your address, I'll send you the checks." Burt shook his head, closing his eyes.

"Mr. Anderson… Blaine just lost his mother. He doesn't have anyone but his friends – his mother didn't have any family…"

"Look, Mr. Hummel, I understand what you're trying to say. But my wife is a very important woman, and we have a reputation to protect. Another kid showing up… it doesn't look good."

"And clearly appearances are more important to you than your son." Burt reached into the pocket of his vest, pulling out one of his business cards and a pen. He wrote on the back quickly before handing it over. "That's my work address, but the second number is my cell. Our home address is on the back."

"I really appreciate what you're doing for Blaine, Mr. Hummel."

"Mr. Anderson, Blaine is my son's best friend. And he's still a kid, in case you didn't realize that," Burt replied.

"Mr. Hummel…"

"What that kid needs is a family – someone has to take care of him. And if you and your wife aren't willing to do that, then my wife and I will. I'm not letting him get dumped into the system just because your wife's reputation can't take the blow." Burt stepped back, shutting the door in the other man's face.

"Who was that?" Burt turned around, surprised to see Kurt standing there at the bottom of the stairs.

"Kurt…" Burt watched as his son raised an eyebrow as if he were trying to read the expression on Burt's face. The man sighed. "Is Blaine still upstairs?"

"He's packing up some clothes… I just came downstairs to get something to drink. Who was that?" Burt walked closer to Kurt before he responded. He didn't want Blaine to overhear. "Dad?"

"You can't tell Blaine, okay?"

"Why can't I tell Blaine?" Kurt asked, crossing his arms and watching Burt as if he was still trying to figure out what the older man was talking about.

"It was Blaine's father. I don't really understand what's going on, but Blaine isn't supposed to meet his dad until he turns eighteen."

"Dad! You should have…"

"Blaine doesn't need that man in his life, Kurt. His wife won't let him have anything to do with Blaine… not until Blaine turns eighteen."

"I don't…" Kurt began.

"Blaine's father was married – his wife is apparently someone important. Someone whose reputation is more important to her than her husband's child. Blaine doesn't need to know about all of this right now…"

"What don't I need to know?" Burt looked up the stairs, sighing as he saw Blaine standing there. "What's going on?"

"Blaine, your dad was just here…" Burt began, watching the boy's face. He was surprised when Blaine's face didn't really change.

"I'm guessing he didn't want to see me."

"He said something about some agreement he had with your mother and his wife. Something about how he's not supposed to have any contact with you until you turn eighteen… I wasn't going to say anything because I didn't want to upset you." Burt watched Blaine's face as the boy shrugged.

"I guess it makes sense… he always found ways to avoid me." Burt watched as Blaine sat down on the stairs. "So I'm not going with him?"

"No. He said that if you want a relationship when you turn eighteen, then you would be welcome in his family," Burt replied. He bit down on his bottom lip as Blaine nodded, staring absently ahead of him.

"I'm going to go pack…" Burt watched Blaine as the boy stood up and turned back around to go back to his room. Burt sighed and went back to the dishes.

* * *

Kurt's bed was too comfortable, and Blaine really didn't want to move. "_The Sound of Music_?"

"I really don't care… I'm probably going to end up sleeping through most of the movie anyway," Blaine commented, pulling one of Kurt's pillow shams up against his chest as he curled up on his side. Blaine closed his eyes, ignoring the fact that Kurt had sat down on the bed next to him rather than moving to put in the movie.

"Are you okay?" Blaine smiled slightly as he felt Kurt run a hand through his hair, which Blaine had pretty much given up on taming over the past week. He didn't have the energy to deal with it on top of everything else.

"I'm managing. I'm just tired…"

"Would you rather just take a nap before dinner? We don't have to watch a movie right now." Blaine murmured softly as Kurt continued playing with his hair. Something about the sensation was soothing; it vaguely reminded Blaine of when he'd been little because his mother had always done the same thing when he wasn't feeling well.

"You're going to put me to sleep if you keep doing that," Blaine replied, reaching up and pulling Kurt's hand away from his head. He threaded their fingers together without opening his eyes. "Mostly I just don't want you to leave me alone. I'm… I'm afraid of myself." Blaine opened his eyes, looking up at Kurt and recognizing the look of concern in his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want to feel this way… but there are times when I wish it had been me instead of my mom. Times I feel like I could still bring her back if I could give this up…" Blaine sat up, not letting go of Kurt's hand. "I'm not saying that I'm going to do anything about it. But it's easier to fight that feeling when I'm not by myself."

"I'm not going anywhere, okay?" Blaine smiled slightly and pulled Kurt into a hug.

"Thank you, Kurt. For everything."

"You're one of my best friends… you don't have to thank me for this."

"For being a friend, maybe not. But for everything else you and your family have done for me… I don't think I could ever thank you all enough. Your parents didn't have to offer to let me live here. Your dad didn't have to deal with my father, or go to Reynoldsburg for four days to help me bury my mom. Carole and Finn didn't have to come to the funeral. You didn't have to drive out to my house at three in the morning…"

"You called me in tears, Blaine. I couldn't just leave you alone when you were so upset."

"Would you have done the same thing for anyone else?" Blaine asked, backing away from the hug so that he could see Kurt's face.

"For another friend? Yeah, I would," Kurt replied. Blaine could see how sincere the other boy's answer was from the look in his eyes. For some reason, Blaine felt a twinge of regret at that fact – he had sort of wanted Kurt to say that he wouldn't have done the same for someone else, that Blaine was special. But at the same time Blaine knew that Kurt was that kind of guy, and it was one of the things that Blaine had always appreciated about the younger boy. Blaine pulled the rest of the way out of the hug, grabbing the pillow again and hugging it to his chest.

"On second thought, can I veto that movie? I could use a good comedy."

"What about _Sydney White_? I know we've seen it, but it's pretty much the only thing I have here. Pretty much every other movie I own is at Dalton right now," Kurt explained.

"That works." Blaine watched as the younger boy got up and put the movie in the DVD player before settling back on top of the comforter on the bed next to Blaine. Blaine kept his distance, choosing to hug the pillow rather than potentially embarrass himself by clinging to Kurt the way he had before.

Sydney had made it to The Vortex before Kurt paused the movie. "Are you okay? Like, really?" Blaine turned his head to look at Kurt, shrugging his shoulders.

"What do you mean?"

"After our last conversation, you're suddenly acting all distant… acting like you don't want me anywhere near you. Did I say something to upset you?"

"I just… I thought maybe there was a reason why you were so willing to help me the other day," Blaine admitted. "I kind of got the impression that you might think of me as more than a friend." The last sentence was whispered, so quiet that Blaine wasn't even sure that Kurt could hear him.

"What are you…?" Kurt began. Blaine watched as the look of recognition crossed his face. "Oh. Blaine…"

"I shouldn't have said anything… it was stupid," Blaine replied, putting down the pillow and getting off the bed. He started towards the door until Kurt put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him.

"Blaine, it wasn't stupid…" Blaine let Kurt turn him back around and run a hand through his curls. "I really care about you, okay? And I do mean that as more than a friend. But right now you just need me to be a friend… you don't need a lot of relationship drama." Blaine shook his head, wrapping his arms around Kurt and burying his face in the younger boy's neck for the second time that day. He wasn't really surprised when it took Kurt a moment to respond.

"Maybe I want more than that."

"I know, okay? I want more, too. But I don't think this is the best time…"

"Please just tell me this isn't you trying to let me down easy." Blaine let Kurt pull his head back until they were looking each other square in the eye.

"This is me saying that I think you should wait until you've had some time to deal with everything that's happened lately before you get into any kind of relationship drama. The last thing you need right now is more stress." Blaine knew that Kurt was right, but it didn't make Blaine feel any less like he was being rejected.

"I know you're just trying to protect me, Kurt. But that doesn't make this feel any less like rejection," Blaine replied, pulling away from the younger boy's hug. He was surprised when Kurt leaned in and gently pressed a kiss against his cheek.

"I'm not rejecting you. I'm just saying that you shouldn't rush into something just because you're upset… you buried your mother yesterday, you've been under so much stress for the past week and a half. You're not in a good place right now. Not for this." Blaine pulled further away, shaking his head.

"You have no idea where I am right now, Kurt." Blaine didn't mean for his words to come across so harsh. He couldn't bring himself to look at Kurt because he had a feeling that the older boy would look hurt. He didn't mean to hurt Kurt's feelings.

"Not exactly, no. When I lost my mom, I still had my dad to lean on. But I do know how much it hurts to lose someone you love." Blaine watched Kurt's feet as the younger boy backed away. "Let's just finish the movie. Dinner won't be ready for another hour or so."

* * *

Carole wasn't normally one to call out of work, but she also knew that the last thing her stepson's best friend needed was to be left alone while Burt was at work and Finn and Kurt were at school. So she'd called her manager, lying and saying that she had the stomach virus that had been going around – the one that had kept at least two of her coworkers out of work for almost a week.

By the time ten o'clock came and went, Carole was already starting to worry about Blaine because he hadn't gotten up yet. She'd intended to make him breakfast – Carole had wanted to do what she could to make the boy feel at home, now that he was going to be living with them.

"You didn't have to stay home with me." Carole looked up from the magazine she had been reading and smiled at Blaine.

"I didn't think you should be alone," she replied, standing up. "Are you hungry? I could make you some scrambled eggs or something…" Carole started towards the kitchen.

"You don't have to cook for me, Mrs. Hummel." She stopped where she was, turning around.

"First of all, sweetie, it's Carole. I'm not a fan of formality. And secondly, as long as you're living here, you're going to let me treat you like you're one of my boys. Which means that I'm going to make you breakfast. What would you like?"

"Cereal's fine, really. I'm really not that hungry anyway." Carole sighed, turning around to face Blaine and cross her arms.

"You need to eat, Blaine. At least more than what you've been eating."

"You've been talking to Mr. Hummel?" Blaine asked.

"And Kurt." Carole reached out and put one hand on Blaine's shoulder in what she hoped would be a comforting gesture. She wasn't surprised at all when he pulled away from her. "We're all worried about you, sweetie. We just want to make sure that you're okay. That you're taking care of yourself."

"Please don't lecture me…"

"I'm not trying to lecture you. I just want you to understand that we care about you… which is why I'm not going to back down. You need to eat. And I mean real food." Carole moved so that she could put an arm around Blaine's shoulders and led him into the kitchen, guiding him gently into a chair at the kitchen table before she walked over to the refrigerator. "What would you like to eat? I can make you some eggs and bacon, or I've got some bagels and strawberry cream cheese…"

"A bagel is fine. Do you have any peanut butter?" Carole got to work, pulling a bagel out of the bag in the cabinet and splitting it in half before putting it in the toaster while she got out the peanut butter and a knife to put on the table. "You said you talked to Kurt… how much did he tell you?" Carole sighed, moving to sit down across from Blaine.

"He told me what you said about not wanting to be alone. Which is part of what I wanted to talk to you about…" Carole could see that Blaine was uncomfortable by the way he shifted in his seat as she spoke. "Don't be mad at Kurt… he was worried, which is why he told me. He didn't want to leave you to go to school. He wouldn't leave until I promised not to leave you alone today." Carole got up as the toaster popped out Blaine's bagel and put it on a plate, spreading peanut butter on both halves before putting the plate down in front of Blaine and sitting back in her seat.

"I'm not mad at him. I… I sort of figured he would say something. At least I know he cares," Blaine commented, picking up one half of the bagel and taking a bite as Carole watched. It was his last comment that bothered her, and Carole wasn't sure that it was a good idea to just let it go.

"Why would you think he didn't care, sweetie?" Blaine took another bite of the bagel before he responded.

"Just a conversation we had yesterday. I feel like… I think I may have screwed things up." Carole raised an eyebrow as Blaine took another bite of his bagel, curious as to where the conversation was going. "I think I'm developing feelings for Kurt. Or starting to accept them, I guess. But he shut the conversation down before we could really even talk about it…" Suddenly Carole realized what was going on, what Blaine was feeling. She reached out and put a hand on top of the one he wasn't using to eat his bagel.

"Blaine, sweetie, when did these feelings start?"

"A few days ago," Blaine replied, shrugging.

"You do realize that being in a relationship with Kurt isn't going to fill that emptiness, right? There is nothing that can make it stop hurting, no matter how much love you feel for Kurt or how much he reciprocates your feelings. You'll just end up hurting yourself and Kurt if you don't understand that."

"I do understand," Blaine replied softly. Carole watched as the boy sighed and took yet another bite out of his bagel. "I know that he's not going to fix me… that no one can fix this for me. But I'm afraid to wait now. Life is too short…" Carole watched as tears started to slip down the boy's face, wondering if she should hug him or something like that. "I just want… I want someone to love me. I always thought my mom was going to be there. And now I have no one…"

Carole sighed, squeezing Blaine's hand. "You have us, sweetie… you're always welcome here…

"But you're not my family. You don't have to love me unconditionally… you don't have to love me at all. I'm just the kid you all took in who had nowhere else to go."

"Sweetie…"

"I know you're going to say you care, Carole. But it doesn't matter… it's nothing against your family. I just want my mom back… I want the one person who has always loved me." Carole watched as Blaine dropped the remainder of his bagel on the plate and pulled his knees up against his chest, wrapping both of his arms around them. "I want things to go back to the way they were last week. I'd even be happy if she was still in the hospital, as long as she was still alive."

"She's not suffering anymore… that's what's important. She's not sick. I can't say whether or not she's in a better place because I don't know."

"She wasn't even sick… not really. She was diabetic, but she wasn't really sick… and then she was just gone." Carole wanted to do something to help Blaine, but she didn't know what would be helpful. When the boy stood up and started to leave, Carole stepped in his way and wrapped her arms around him. "I just need someone who isn't going to leave…" Carole held the boy, letting him cry on her shoulder.

"We aren't going to leave you. We want you to be here… that's why we invited you to live here with us."

"My dad walked away without ever saying a word…" Blaine began.

"Your father doesn't have his priorities in order. And that is _his_ problem." Carole gently rubbed Blaine's back as he sobbed. "Go ahead and cry. You do what you need to do…" Carole held him for a few minutes, until the boy finally calmed down enough to stop sobbing.

"I'm sorry… I shouldn't…"

"You don't have to apologize for being upset. You should never have to apologize for your emotions," Carole replied, reaching up and stroking the boy's hair. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I just need… I need to…" Blaine began, sighing. "I don't even know anymore."

"You'll figure it out. Just give yourself some time to process everything, to relax and think about everything that's happened lately, figure out what you need to do for yourself." Carole watched as Blaine just nodded, pulling away from her and sighing.

"I have some homework I need to do. I'm just going to go upstairs…" Carole watched as the boy turned away and went back up the stairs, crossing her arms and walking over to the table. She sighed as she realized that he hadn't even finished the first half of his bagel.

**A/n: Purely as preemption, I'm making you all a promise – Blaine does NOT have an eating disorder in this story. However, that is the only promise I'm going to make because at the moment I don't know exactly where I'm going to take this. I have a couple of ideas, but I'll just have to wait and see which one appeals to me the most when the time comes.**


	3. Falling Behind

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Glee or any of these characters… if I did, Karofsky wouldn't exist anymore, Jesse wouldn't have been such an asshole (albeit one I believe legitimately fell for Rachel), and there would be a LOT more Blaine.

**A/n: Ugh… I'm so sorry, y'all. Things have been crazy lately thanks to the impending doom that is exams. Plus I've been writing crappy chapters that I end up deleting and starting all over again lately, so that's taking up a lot of my time. I hope you're still hanging in there with me!**

Blaine couldn't help himself; he'd been fighting the urge to break down for most of the afternoon, despite Carole's assurances that he had every reason to be upset and that it was okay for him to cry. But he still found himself curled up on the bed in what had been the guest room with his back to the door, his entire body shaking as he quietly sobbed. He didn't even hear the door opening; Blaine was too distracted by keeping his grief as quiet as possible to notice until Kurt actually spoke to him.

"Blaine? Are you alright?" Blaine sat up, shaking his head as he wiped the tears from his face before he turned around to face Kurt. The boy was still in his Dalton uniform, and he had one of Blaine's suitcases from school in hand. Blaine knew he looked like hell, but he didn't care all that much. Kurt had seen him at his worst already. He watched in silence as the younger boy dropped the bag and hurried over to sit next to him. "Hey… it's okay."

Blaine immediately turned towards Kurt, leaning in and wrapping his arms around Kurt's waist. He needed to be held, to have someone stroke his hair and tell him that everything was going to be okay. And Kurt seemed to realize that, because the younger boy didn't once comment on the fact that Blaine was going to wrinkle his blazer. Kurt barely even spoke, sticking to murmuring soothing words into Blaine's ear for a while, until Blaine finally calmed down enough to pull away from Kurt.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Kurt asked. Blaine shook his head as the younger boy continued to play with his hair. "I'm not going to push you, Blaine… but you can talk to me. About anything."

"Why does everyone expect me to talk about it? I'm just not ready…"

"Okay… but when you're ready, I'm here."

"Everyone keeps saying that…"

"Because we just want you to know that you don't have to feel like you're in this by yourself. That we're going to be here for you when you need us." Blaine shook his head, sighing.

"I just wish I could feel normal again… not be so sad, not have feelings like these. I wish there was some way I could be fixed," Blaine commented.

"The only thing that's going to make things better is time…" Kurt began. Blaine felt an inexplicable feeling of anger welling up inside of him, making it almost impossible for him to stay there to finish the conversation with Kurt.

"I know that, Kurt! I know that there's nothing anyone can do for me… and I hate that I have to feel this way! I just want my life back, damn it!" Blaine stood as he spoke, making for the door. He needed to get out. He couldn't stay there any longer, couldn't deal with Kurt trying to talk to him and make things better when Blaine was starting to feel like no amount of time was going to be enough to make him feel okay again.

"Blaine!" He ignored Kurt; Blaine wasn't in the mood to talk, and he wasn't sure that he was in the mood to deal with anyone at the moment. It was all he could do to keep himself from lashing out physically at Kurt, and he wasn't about to do anything that would piss off the boy's parents. He had to get out of there – out of the house – before he did anything stupid.

Blaine ignored Carole's questioning as he hurried past her and out the front door of the house. He hadn't really taken time to think about what he was doing, so the cold air was a bit of a shock. Blaine suddenly realized that he'd walked out of the house only wearing a long sleeved tee shirt, a pair of jeans, and his socks – not the best thing to wear for late February in Ohio. But he couldn't go back. Not yet. Not until he managed to calm himself down.

Blaine wandered down the sidewalk for a while, ignoring the cold that sank through all of his clothes and chilled him until his teeth were chattering and his lips were turning blue. He sank down onto a bus stop bench after a while, closing his eyes and pulling his knees up to his chest. He realized now that he had been stupid, leaving the house without knowing where he was going. Blaine didn't know Lima. He hadn't been there other than the few times he'd come to hang out with Kurt, and then he had really only been a few places. Blaine wanted to go back, to explain himself. But he couldn't now because he had no idea where he was or how to get back.

"You look like hell, kid." Blaine looked up, shrugging as Burt Hummel sat down next to him. He hadn't even heard the man's truck pull up. "What happened? I got a call from Carole saying you'd just left without saying a word to anyone about where you were going. She was worried about you."

"I didn't mean to worry anyone. I just… I had to get out of there…" Blaine began. The tears were starting to fall, and he wiped at them with his sleeve.

"Let's get you home… we can talk about this when you aren't at risk of catching pneumonia." Blaine let Burt help him to his feet and guide him over to the truck. On the way Blaine felt Burt put a heavy jacket around his shoulders and Blaine pulled it tighter around his body. It was still warm from Burt's body heat, and it was almost comforting for Blaine. He was still cold, but at least he didn't feel like he was in danger of freezing any more.

Burt turned the heat up as high as it would go once they were in the car, angling as many of the vents as possible towards Blaine. "Let me know when you get warm." The car ride was silent, although Blaine felt pretty sure that the tension in the vehicle was entirely in his mind. Eventually Blaine reached out and turned down the heat a bit; he wasn't completely warm, but he had a feeling that it was getting too hot for Burt. "What happened?" Blaine bit down on his bottom lip, trying to figure out how he should phrase his answer before he spoke.

"I was mad… frustrated, mostly. I just wanted to hit something. I had to get out of there before I did something I would regret." Blaine stared out the window, not wanting to look at Burt for fear that the man would be upset with him for the reason he'd left.

"You can't do that, kid… just run off like you did. It's not safe. Especially not when you run out of the house without a coat or shoes…"

"Yeah… I realize that now." Blaine pulled Burt's jacket tighter around his body, closing his eyes. He didn't realize that they were back at the house until Burt gently shook his shoulder.

"C'mon… let's get you inside so we can get you warmed up." Blaine got out of the truck, following Burt back into the house. As soon as he was in the door, Carole attacked him with a blanket and pushed him over to the couch, sitting him down and tucking the blanket around his body. It wasn't until he got there and Carole had him wrapped up that he realized how much his hands and feet hurt.

"Are you okay?" Blaine nodded in response.

"Just cold…" Blaine pulled the blanket Carole had brought him around his body a little tighter. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to make anyone worry. I just needed to get away…"

"It's okay, sweetie. I'm going to make you some hot tea to help you warm up." Blaine nodded, staring down at the floor in front of him. The entire situation felt awkward to him, and he sort of just wanted to go upstairs to his room and hide. But he knew that Burt wasn't going to let that happen – not just yet.

"We're worried about you, kid." Blaine glanced over as Burt sat down on the couch next to him. "I get that you're upset and all that, but I really need you to let us know if you leave the house. Carole and I are responsible for you, and you can't just disappear like you did."

"I'm really sorry… I just wasn't thinking."

"I get that. Look, we're not mad at you and you aren't in trouble, okay? We're just concerned with keeping you safe." Blaine nodded again, closing his eyes and leaning his head against the back of the couch. "You still cold?"

"A little."

"I'll get you another blanket… just sit tight, try and stay warm."

* * *

Carole pressed a hand against Blaine's cheek, surprised at how warm the boy felt. "Is everything okay?" Carole looked up at Kurt, who was standing in the doorway looking concerned.

"He's running a fever… probably caught a cold yesterday when he ran out of here." Carole gently brushed the hair out of Blaine's face and turned to face her stepson again. "Everything okay?"

"I was just coming to see if Blaine wanted me to pick anything else up from his dorm room after Warblers today."

"Why don't I get him to text you if he thinks of anything? We should let him try to sleep it off…" Carole began, standing up and moving towards the door.

"Too late… I'm awake." Carole turned and saw that Blaine had opened his eyes even though he hadn't moved. "What's up?"

"Do you need me to get anything else from school?" Kurt asked. Carole watched as the older boy shrugged.

"I think my backpack is under my desk… my chemistry book should still be in there. I have a lot of catching up to do," Blaine commented. Kurt nodded and left, leaving Carole to talk to the boy.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." Carole could tell that the boy wasn't telling the complete truth; his face was flushed and the sound of his voice was off just enough to let Carole know that there was something wrong.

"You have a fever. Don't try to deny it, okay?"

"I have a sore throat. Otherwise I'm fine." Carole watched the boy for a moment, trying to tell if he was being truthful or not. She wasn't completely sure whether or not he was telling the truth; Blaine seemed to be doing everything he could to hide how he was feeling. Carole busied herself tucking the covers around Blaine and pushing a few stray curls away from his forehead, trying to figure out if he was telling the whole truth or not. She gave up a moment later

"Just stay in bed for now. I'll bring you some orange juice and something to eat."

"I can go downstairs…" Blaine began.

"Not with a fever… I want you to stay in bed. You need to rest as much as possible, so you'll get better."

"You sound like my mom."

"I sound like every mom on the planet dealing with a sick kid. Now get some rest – I don't want it to get worse than a sore throat," Carole replied, smoothing his hair. She wanted to check the boy's temperature, but she wasn't so sure that he would be willing to let her do that at the moment. He didn't really seem all that okay with admitting that he wasn't feeling that well. "I'm going to make you a real breakfast. You need to eat something substantial for a change."

Carole turned around to start making her way downstairs. "Hey, Carole?" She turned around. "Thank you. For everything."

"You're welcome. Get some rest, I'll be back up here to check on you again in a little bit."

* * *

Blaine was sick of lying in bed; Carole hadn't really let him move since he'd woken up, not that he really wanted to get up. His throat was still incredibly sore and it seemed like his entire body hurt. Not to mention that he was exhausted.

"How are you feeling? Do you need anything?" Blaine shook his head, rolling away from Carole as the woman sat down on the side of his bed.

"I just want to sleep… I'm pretty tired." Blaine felt a hand press against the side of his head for a moment. He sat up, moving over towards the windows.

"Is something wrong?"

"I was just going to shut the curtains… it's sort of bright in here." Before Blaine could even muster up the energy to get up, Carole had moved around the bed and was already taking care of the curtains. "You don't have to do that…"

"Sweetie, you don't feel well and you need to rest. Get back in bed."

"Really, Carole, I can do it…" Blaine began.

"Bed, Blaine. I'm not going to say it again." The boy sighed, climbing back under the covers and pulling them up towards his chin. As soon as Carole was done with the curtains, Blaine felt her carefully tucking the blankets around his body a little tighter. "Get some rest. I'm going to bring you something for the fever and something to drink… you don't have any allergies, do you?"

"No… not to medication. Shellfish are bad, though."

Blaine didn't really remember Carole leaving the room, nor did he remember her coming back in and giving him the promised pills. All he knew was that when he woke up again he felt at least marginally better. And he was hungry for the first time all day. Blaine slowly pulled himself to his feet, not really excited about the prospect of making his way downstairs. Blaine was surprised at how shaky he was as he made his way down the stairs, although he knew it was from a combination of running a fever and not eating very much all day. He'd only managed to force down a little bit of what Carole had brought him for breakfast, and it wasn't really edible anymore.

"You're supposed to be in bed, kid." Blaine was startled to hear Burt's voice and he tripped slightly on the bottom step, gripping the handrail as tightly as possible to stop himself from falling. Burt was there to steady him almost immediately, which meant that he hadn't been that far away. "You okay? You look a little pale."

"I'll be fine… I just need to eat something." Blaine was glad when the older man simply nodded, letting go of him slowly to make sure that Blaine wasn't going to actually fall. He really didn't want the man to make a big deal about what had just happened; Blaine would feel better as soon as he got something in his stomach.

"Come on… I only came home because Carole said she was going to cook something good for lunch." Blaine let the man lead him into the kitchen and into one of the chairs at the table. He wasn't all that surprised when the man disappeared and showed back up a minute later with two plates in hand, putting one down in front of Blaine. "Eat up, kid."

Blaine really only managed a few bites of his lunch; while he needed to eat, he just didn't have much of an appetite once he actually started eating. And he felt sort of bad about not being able to eat more after Carole had put so much time into the meal and had done so much to take care of him already that day. The food just didn't taste very good because he was sick, and Blaine couldn't get himself to force down more food. He ended up picking at his food.

"You need to eat more than that, sweetie. You've barely eaten anything today," Carole commented, coming to the table with her own plate.

"I guess I'm not as hungry as I thought I was…" Blaine began, pushing away the plate.

"Kid, you really need to eat more. I jut saw you nearly lose your balance coming down the stairs…" Burt began.

"You startled me," Blaine interrupted.

"There's still the fact that you've barely eaten in days. You're not going to start feeling better if you don't eat something." Blaine glared down at the plate as Burt spoke, knowing the man was right. He picked up his fork again, doing his best to try and force a few more bites down.

"If you want to watch some television after you eat…" Carole began.

"I need to do some homework… I'm already a week and a half behind at school. And the workload doesn't get lighter just because you're excused from classes."

"Don't try to do too much, okay? You need to rest, too." Blaine just nodded; he knew she was right, after all.

"I just don't want to get any further behind than I have to."

"You don't need to worry about all of that right now. Everything can be figured out later, when you're feeling better." Blaine nodded at Burt's words, putting down his fork again.

"I'm just going to go back upstairs, if that's okay…"

"You go ahead, sweetie. I'll come up and check on you later."

* * *

Kurt knocked on the door of Blaine's bedroom, slowly pushing it open when he didn't get an answer. He smiled as he saw the older boy crashed out on top of the dark comforter, a pen in one hand and a book and notebook open next to him. He was fast asleep, his mouth open as he snored softly. It was cute and Kurt hated to disturb the scene, but he didn't think it was a good idea to leave the boy asleep on top of his textbook.

Kurt put Blaine's backpack on the floor next to the dresser and walked over to the bed, closing the book and notebook. He picked up the items, gently prying the pen out of Blaine's hand and moving everything over to the nearest flat surface. Then Kurt picked up the extra blanket that had been spread across the end of the bed and gently covered the older boy up.

"Mom?" Kurt stopped, biting down on his bottom lip as he realized that he had accidentally woken Blaine up.

"No, it's Kurt," he whispered, sitting down on the edge of the bed and pushing the older boy's curly hair back. He sighed as he realized that Blaine was still running a fever. "How are you feeling?"

"Like crap… stay with me?"

"I need to do some homework. But I can do it in here if you want me to," Kurt replied. He watched as the older boy nodded without even opening his eyes. "I'm going to go get my books… I'll be back in a minute." Kurt was tempted to lean down and press a kiss against the older boy's forehead, but he stopped himself. The last thing he needed to do was make it seem like there was more going on between the two of them than was really there.

Kurt was back in Blaine's room and sitting on the floor with his books spread out and his back against the side of the bed within just a few minutes. He got to work quickly, occasionally glancing up to check on Blaine. The boy had gone back to sleep while Kurt was getting his books, but Kurt didn't feel right leaving Blaine alone when he had been specifically asked to stay. He'd gotten through a lot of his homework before he got interrupted.

"What are you doing?" a soft voice asked. Kurt looked up, smiling at Blaine as he realized that the older boy was awake again.

"Homework. Are you feeling better now that you've gotten some sleep?"

"A little… I think I need to find the medicine Carole gave me earlier. It works miracles…" Kurt smiled slightly and turned back to his book for a moment, until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked back up at Blaine, who had moved over so that he was staring down at Kurt. "What am I missing at school?"

"Not much. The council's discussing the set list for Regionals, but they're not making any final decisions just yet."

"Regionals is in less than two weeks…"

"Wes and David don't want to make any decisions without knowing exactly what we're working with," Kurt replied.

"They're waiting to see if I'm going to be back, aren't they?"

"They're just used to planning arrangements and song choices based on your voice. You know how much the Warblers hate to change anything." Kurt watched as Blaine closed his eyes and sighed.

"Tell them to stop putting things off. I'll be there, but not in time to be the lead. I have to get over this stupid cold first, and then I'll be back."

"You don't have to rush yourself…"

"I need something to do… I need to get out of this house, even if it's just to go to school. I'm driving myself crazy." Kurt turned around and faced Blaine, running his hands through the older boy's curls. "What time is it?"

"Almost time for dinner." Kurt pulled away and stood up, holding out a hand to Blaine. "Why don't we go downstairs? You can chill out on the couch with Finn while I try to figure out what Carole gave you earlier, and we'll already be downstairs when dinner's ready." Kurt watched in silence as Blaine got up slowly; Blaine was weak and a little shaky, but Kurt didn't say anything about it.

"I should probably eat before I take anything… I didn't think about it earlier, but it's probably not a good idea to take that stuff on an empty stomach."

"You're probably right," Kurt replied. He put a hand on Blaine's back, walking with the older boy towards the stairs. He stayed just close enough that he could catch the older boy if he lost his balance, but not close enough that Blaine would know that was what he was doing.

"Is it always this cold in your house, or am I just that sick?"

"You're still running a fever, which is probably why you're so cold." Kurt kept one eye trained on Blaine as they went down the stairs, leading the older boy over to the couch and covering him up with a blanket. Kurt was a little surprised that Finn wasn't staring at the TV playing Call of Duty or some other war game on his Xbox. "I'll be back. Do you want the remote, since Finn isn't hogging the TV?"

"Not really… I'm kind of tired." Kurt watched as Blaine's eyes closed again and Kurt sighed.

"I'll be back in a few minutes."

Carole was in the middle of cooking dinner when Kurt walked into the kitchen. "I hope you're hungry… dinner will be ready soon. You should go see if Blaine wants to come down."

"He's already in the living room. I was actually coming to find whatever medicine you gave him earlier," Kurt replied.

"I'm guessing his fever is back?"

"Yeah, I think it is. He doesn't seem like he feels that bad, though… just tired," Kurt replied.

"The bottle is over by the sink. Just one." Kurt got a glass out of the cabinet and filled it with water, shaking out a single pill and taking them both back into the living room to Blaine. The boy seemed to have fallen asleep on the couch.

Kurt knelt down by the couch, gently running his fingers through the older boy's curls again in an attempt to wake him up. "Hey… I'm back." Kurt smiled as Blaine's eyes fluttered open again. "You fell asleep again."

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be. Why don't you go ahead and sit up… Carole said dinner would be ready in a few minutes," Kurt replied. He handed over the pill and glass as Blaine slowly sat up and watched as the older boy swallowed the medication quickly. Blaine's eyes closed again almost as soon as Kurt took the glass back from him.

"Maybe I should just go back to bed… I'm so tired."

"You need to eat, and you're already downstairs. It's just a few minutes until dinner will be ready…"

"I guess I should at least try to eat." Kurt moved to sit on the couch next to Blaine, smiling slightly as the boy curled up as close to him as possible. "You're warm." Kurt took the boy's hands in his, rubbing them gently.

"Your fingers are like ice." Kurt pulled the boy's hands up to his face and gently pressed a kiss against them before he started trying to warm them up again.

"I'm sorry, Kurt. For being so oblivious."

"What are you talking about?"

"Before… I should have realized what was going on. That there was something there." Kurt smiled, squeezing Blaine's hands.

"It's okay. Seriously, though, we'll talk about all of that later."

"I want to talk about it now. We need to clear things up between the two of us…"

"Blaine, please. You're sick and…"

"Kurt, do NOT say that again. I don't give a shit, okay? I want to be with you."

"I don't want to hurt you, and I don't want to get hurt. That's why I don't want to go there yet. We just need to wait… you need some time to just figure things out. By yourself." Kurt leaned over and gently pressed a kiss against Blaine's lips. "You know I want to be with you, too."

"I just don't understand why we can't be together…"

"Because relationships are stressful. You have too much stress in your life already… once things calm down, then we'll figure this out." Kurt let go of Blaine's hands and wrapped his arms around the older boy, pulling him into a hug. He smiled as Blaine's head gently rested against his chest.

"I guess I just have to be okay with that."

* * *

Blaine woke up feeling disgusting; he was soaking wet with sweat, and the blankets on top of him were too hot and heavy. He pushed them off, shivering as the cool air hit his soaked pajamas. He sat up slowly, glancing at the clock on the dresser and realizing it was 2:30 in the morning. Blaine needed a shower desperately, but he didn't want to wake everyone else in the house.

Blaine dug through the dresser drawers, finding clean clothes. He made his way quietly down the hall and into the bathroom, pushing the door closed before he turned on the light and water. He quickly peeled off his wet clothing, leaving it in the hamper as he stepped under the warm spray. It was less than ten minutes from the time he stepped into the shower until he turned off the water. Blaine hurriedly got out of the shower, drying off and putting his clothes on.

"Blaine?" Blaine opened the door, coming face to face with Carole. "Are you okay, sweetie?"

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to wake you…" Blaine closed his eyes as Carole put a hand against his forehead. "I just felt so gross when I woke up… I needed a shower."

"You don't seem to have a fever. Are you feeling better?"

"Just tired. I was going to go downstairs and curl up on the couch…" he began.

"What about your bed?"

"I was sweating…"

"Let's get you some clean sheets. Your bed is much more comfortable than the couch." Blaine followed Carole into his bedroom, starting to strip the bed as Carole got a clean set of sheets out of the closet that Blaine hadn't noticed in there before.

"How do you set the alarm clock?"

"I'll show you in the morning. Let's just get the bedding changed so you can go back to sleep," Carole replied.

"I was sort of hoping to go to school tomorrow."

"I don't think that's a good idea. You were running a fever up until just a little while ago. If you still feel up to it, you can try on Thursday."

"But I feel fine… I'm sure once I get a couple of hours of sleep…"

"I just don't want you to overdo it and get sick again. You need rest." Blaine sighed, sitting down on the edge of the bed as soon as they finished putting on the fitted sheet. "It's one more day."

"Which makes it exactly two weeks of school I've missed. Which is exactly the number of days you're allowed to miss without being in danger of failing for absences.

"They aren't going to fail you for absences, sweetie… they make exceptions for extenuating circumstances all the time. No one is going to hold it against you. And if any of your teachers have an issue with helping you, you just have to tell me and Burt and we'll take care of it." Blaine nodded, smiling slightly at Carole as she pulled the covers back onto the bed. She walked around the bed and pressed a kiss against his forehead. "You should go back to sleep."

Blaine climbed under the covers, closing his eyes. He barely even noticed Carole tucking him in as he drifted off to sleep.


	4. Not Falling Apart

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Glee or any of these characters… if I did, Karofsky wouldn't exist anymore, Jesse wouldn't have been such an asshole (albeit one I believe legitimately fell for Rachel), and there would be a LOT more Blaine.

**A/n: If I fail my exam today, it is because of this chapter. I have seriously spent 3 times as much of my time writing this as I have actually preparing for this test, because I could NOT get this out of my head. Thank God this test is open book.**

Blaine stared at his reflection in the mirror, sighing. His uniform looked fine; he'd managed to fix his tie correctly without even thinking about it, and he'd managed to find one of the cardigans they could wear instead of their blazers among the mess of things he had at Kurt's house. But Blaine himself looked like shit. His skin was pale, there were dark circles under his eyes, and Blaine looked as though he had lost weight. He hadn't bothered trying to tame his curls or put in his contacts.

As much as Blaine wanted to get back to his normal life, he was sort of afraid that everyone was going to stare at him. "Are you almost ready?" Blaine turned towards the door, nodding at Kurt as he picked up his glasses from the top of the dresser and slid them on. "Aren't you going to gel down your hair?"

"I don't feel like it today." Blaine started towards the door, stopping in front of Kurt as the younger boy reached up and straightened his tie, smoothing it down and fixing the buttons on the front of Blaine's cardigan.

"You look like you could use some more sleep… are you sure you want to go back to school today?"

"I need the distraction," Blaine replied, picking up his messenger bag as they started downstairs. Carole was surprisingly already awake and making breakfast when they arrived in the kitchen.

"You didn't have to get up so early, Carole. We're perfectly capable of getting our own breakfast."

"I had to get up to open this morning anyway. Hurry up and eat – you need to leave before long to make it to school on time," Carole replied. Blaine sat down at the table, picking up his fork and starting to pick at the breakfast she had made. He wasn't all that hungry, even though he knew that he needed to eat something before he left for classes. "Eat, sweetie. You're going to make yourself sick again." Blaine closed his eyes as Carole spoke, picking up a bite of egg and forcing it down. It didn't really taste like anything to Blaine, but he forced a few more bites down until they had to leave. He glanced down at his hand as Carole forced a slice of toast on him once his coat and scarf were on. "You are not allowed to throw that out. Kurt, make sure he eats, please."

"Will do. Come on, Blaine, we'll be late if we don't leave now."

The first half of the drive to Westerville was silent; Blaine was a little surprised that Kurt was willing to make the ridiculous drive to and from school every day for him. It was just under two hours one way, and this was the fourth day in a row Kurt had driven it. "I can't believe you're doing this."

"Doing what?" Kurt asked.

"Driving all this way to and from school every day. You shouldn't have to do this…" Blaine replied.

"It's temporary. We'll move back into the dorms in a few days, when you're feeling better. You should eat that toast Carole gave you… she wasn't kidding when she said that you weren't allowed to throw it out." Blaine sighed and took a few bites, choking down the cold toast as best he could. He glanced at Kurt as the younger boy put a hand on his knee for a moment. "Are you sure you're ready for this? You don't have to go back to classes today, you know."

"I'm going crazy at your house, Kurt. I need a distraction… I can't just sit there all day with my thoughts. All I think about is what's happened the last couple of weeks. I just need something else to focus on for now."

Blaine was thankful that Kurt decided to let the conversation drop at that point. He wasn't sure he would be able to keep talking about everything. It was easier to just find ways to keep his mother's death off his mind; it wasn't getting any easier to keep himself from breaking down.

"Just make sure you're taking care of yourself, okay? You're so pale and tired looking…"

"I know I look like shit, okay? I don't need you to tell me that."

"Finish your toast… we're almost at school." Blaine did as he was told, forcing down the last of the food as they pulled into the student parking lot of the school. The two boys got out of the car silently, walking towards the building. "Hey…" Blaine stopped just inside the front doors as Kurt took his hand. "Have a good day, okay? I'll see you in English." Blaine nodded, silently pulling Kurt into a hug before he turned to go to his calculus class.

Blaine wandered into the classroom just as the bell rang, ending any opportunity Wes or David might have had to talk to him before class. He slipped into his desk silently, pulling out the makeup work he had managed to finish along with his textbook. Everyone else seemed to be flipping through their notes like crazy, which could only mean one thing – there was a test that Blaine wasn't prepared for.

"Mr. Anderson, take your makeup work to the junior commons. We'll discuss when you can make up the test tomorrow," Mr. Beckham said, standing up from his desk and starting to count out test papers. Blaine just nodded, doing what he was told and gathering up his things while the teacher passed out the test. He handed over his stack of homework, before Mr. Beckham put a hand on his shoulder and led him out of the classroom. "Blaine, are you alright? You know you don't have to come to classes today…"

"I'm fine… _I_ need to be here today." Blaine watched as the man nodded.

"Just let me know if you need any help catching up. Or if you just want to talk." Blaine just nodded, feeling uncomfortable. "I'll let you get to work."

* * *

The bell ringing brought Blaine back to reality. He'd been staring at the page in his history text throughout the entire lecture and he wasn't completely sure what they had been talking about. Blaine packed up his books quickly, starting out the door. "Mr. Anderson, I'd like to speak with you for a moment."

Blaine stopped in his tracks, turning around and making his way back to Mrs. Hendrix's desk. He motioned for Kurt to go ahead to lunch; Blaine could catch up in a few minutes. "Blaine, are you sure you're feeling alright? You don't look well, and you weren't paying any attention during the lesson today."

Blaine shook his head for a moment. "I'm just tired."

"You should go get some rest after lunch. Don't overdo it." Blaine nodded, biting down on his bottom lip. "Go to lunch, then go get some sleep. You've done enough for one day." Blaine nodded again as he turned to leave the classroom. Blaine walked down towards the dining hall, stepping into the line and sliding his student ID to pay for the meal. Blaine wasn't sure what to eat, and he finally settled on a grilled cheese sandwich and some soup with a bottle of water.

"Please tell me that isn't all you're eating." Blaine shrugged at Kurt's comment as he put his tray down on the table across from the younger boy.

"I'm still not that hungry." Blaine picked up the sandwich and took a bite, looking up as Wes and David sat down at the remaining two seats at the table. It was their usual arrangement for lunch, and Blaine had missed it while he was out of school.

"You feeling okay, Blaine?" David asked.

"I'm fine. Just tired." Blaine took another bite out of his sandwich, ignoring the conversation that went on around him for the most part. Blaine only ate because he knew that Kurt would probably yell at him if he didn't. He'd already lost at least five pounds since the last day he had been at school, and he could see the way everyone watched him.

"Blaine… Earth to Blaine…"

"Huh?" Blaine looked up from his food, only to come face to face with Wes's hand.

"We were talking about Regionals… we're thinking about using 'Misery' for our closing number," Wes replied.

"Who's doing the solo?" Blaine asked. In rehearsals, before his mother had been taken to the hospital, Blaine had been doing that particular solo.

"We were hoping you would still want to do it. Most of the other guys have tried it, but no one sounds as good as you do for this song." Blaine sighed, shaking his head.

"I don't know, guys. It's not really fair to the guys who have been here every rehearsal. Not when I've missed so many lately."

"But you had a good excuse," Wes replied. "No one is going to be that upset if you get the solo. You're the best person for this song…"

"Then why don't you choose a different song? What about 'Good Riddance' by Green Day? We can make that into multiple solos… the _American Idiot_ cast has an awesome version," Kurt replied.

"I like that idea… we should try it."

"Thad hates Green Day," Wes commented.

"We can out-vote Thad. Besides, he's the only reason we haven't done Green Day… they have some good song, and a lot of them aren't that difficult to translate."

"Okay… let's do it, then." Blaine let himself drift off again, ignoring the conversation that took off around him. Wes and David were exchanging ideas constantly, and Blaine wasn't really that interested. He would do whatever they told him to do; at this point Blaine was just trying to make it through the rest of the day. It wasn't until Blaine had absentmindedly eaten all of his food that anyone got his attention again.

Wes's hand on his wrist knocked Blaine awake again. "Blaine, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just tired."

"Why don't you go up to your dorm room and get some sleep?" Kurt suggested. "I can get the rest of your assignments, and we'll wake you up in time for rehearsal."

"No… I'll be fine. I can just go to bed early tonight." Blaine knew he should probably listen to Kurt; the boy was only trying to help him, and Blaine knew that he really did need to get some sleep. But Blaine didn't want to admit that the younger boy was right. He wanted things to be normal now that he was back to school, and Blaine intended to do whatever it took to make things as normal as possible.

"You went to bed early last night, and you're still exhausted… you should just go get some sleep."

"Take care of yourself, Blaine. Your teachers will understand you not being in class for one more day…" David began.

"Seriously, just drop it. I can handle it." Blaine stood up, picking up his tray and his messenger bag. He got rid of the remnants of his lunch and walked out of the dining hall. He made his way to the empty junior commons, dropping his bag into one of the chairs and sitting down next to it, pulling out a textbook and opening it at random. Blaine stared down at the page blankly, mostly just willing himself to stay awake while at the same time praying to be left alone.

Blaine looked up as something was dropped on the table in front of him. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "Something tells me you need that more than I do."

"Thanks, Nick. But I'm not hungry." Blaine leaned back as the other junior sat down across the table from him. Blaine pushed the sandwich back towards the boy who had dropped it.

"You may not be hungry, but I also know for a fact you aren't eating much of anything."

"You've been talking to Kurt."

"I know what it's like. I did the same thing last year, remember?" Blaine had forgotten that Nick had lost his father under similar circumstances at the beginning of their sophomore year. "Seriously, what did you eat for lunch?"

"A sandwich. Some soup."

"And what did you eat for breakfast?"

"What's with the interrogation?" Blaine asked. He watched as Nick shrugged in response, pushing the sandwich back towards Blaine.

"You look like shit… I'm trying to make sure you're taking care of yourself."

"I don't look that bad," Blaine lied, closing his book.

"You're almost as white as Gerard Way, the circles under your eyes make you look like a character from a Tim Burton movie, and judging by the way your uniform is fitting right now I'd say you've lost somewhere between five and ten pounds. Which is really bad because you were only away from school for two weeks and it's not healthy to lose more than about two pounds a week."

"Do you have to know everything?"

"At least split the sandwich with me. I'm not going to feel okay about leaving you alone unless I know you've eaten." Blaine shook his head, pushing the sandwich back towards Nick and sliding his book back into his bag.

"Stop treating me like I'm a little kid. And tell everyone else to do the same. I can take care of myself just fine." Blaine made his way out of the common room quickly, starting towards the staircase where he'd first met Kurt. It was the fastest way to the dorm rooms, and Blaine figured that was the only place his friends wouldn't be tempted to bother him. At least if he was in his dorm room, the other boys might assume he was asleep and leave him alone until his afternoon classes started.

Blaine got a longer break than most thanks to having a free period right after lunch, so it would be all to easy for him to let everyone believe he was doing what they wanted when he was really working on getting caught up on all of the material he had missed since his mother got sick. Blaine purposely ignored the text messages that came in, first from Kurt and then from various other Warblers. He didn't feel like talking to anyone; he just wanted to get something accomplished. Instead he sat down at his desk and opened his chemistry book to the page of problems he had been working on.

It wasn't until Kurt was gently shaking him awake that Blaine even realized he had fallen asleep. He sat up slowly, wincing as the muscles in his back and neck protested against the movement. Sleeping on his desk was definitely not a good idea. "Come on… if you're going to sleep, at least lay down in the bed instead of trying to crouch over on your desk." Blaine was too close to still being asleep to protest as Kurt led him over to the bed and tucked him in.

"Stay with me…" Blaine whispered.

"I still have another class. I'll come back up right before rehearsal." Blaine opened his eyes as he felt Kurt press a kiss against his forehead. Blaine reached up and pulled Kurt's face down towards his own, leaning up and pressing a kiss against the younger boy's lips. "Blaine…"

"I just needed to do that…" Blaine drifted back off to sleep as soon as he was done kissing Kurt.

* * *

Kurt Hummel was confused, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the math problem on the board in front of him. Blaine had kissed him. And while Kurt _was_ in love with Blaine, that still hadn't prepared him for having one extremely confused teenaged boy kiss him while still half asleep. Kurt had enjoyed the kiss, but he was conflicted because he knew that Blaine didn't need a relationship right now no matter how much they wanted to be with each other.

"Mr. Hummel… number three from the homework assignment, please." Kurt's head shot up from looking at his book. "Number three. On the board, if you don't mind." Kurt nodded, picking up his homework assignment and going to the board along with several of his classmates. He wrote the assignment quickly, moving back to his seat with his mind still on what had happened in Blaine's dorm room right before class. It wasn't until he was already seated in his desk that Kurt actually looked at what he had written, and he realized that he'd copied the wrong problem.

The remainder of the class went by quickly once Kurt's embarrassment about putting the wrong homework problem on the board was over. He sighed in relief as soon as the bell rang, putting his book into his bag and rushing up to Blaine's dorm room. Kurt opened the door slowly, sticking his head in first to check out the situation. Blaine was still on the bed, but he had kicked off the covers and one of his arms was thrown across his eyes. Kurt went inside, closing the door softly as he moved over towards Blaine. The older boy didn't move, even when Kurt sat down on the edge of his bed. Kurt sat there for a moment, debating what he should do to wake the boy up. He wasn't sure what he should do to wake Blaine up, but he needed to work something out because they would be late for rehearsal if he didn't hurry.

"Blaine… wake up…" Kurt gently shook the older boy's shoulder as he spoke, but Blaine didn't do anything but groan. "Come on… it's time to wake up."

"Five more minutes…"

"We need to get downstairs for rehearsal." Kurt watched as Blaine shook his head.

"Two minutes, then…" Kurt took Blaine's wrist and moved the older boy's arm away from his eyes.

"It's just an hour, and then you can sleep the whole ride home. We need you if we're going to get anything done for Regionals. And we have to get our music arranged, because Regionals is just a little more than a week away." Blaine groaned, and Kurt pulled his shoulders until the older boy was sitting up, leaning against him. The older boy's chin rested on Kurt's shoulder, and Kurt was surprised when Blaine's arm wrapped around his waist. Kurt could feel the boy shaking slightly. "Blaine? What's wrong?"

"I can't do this…" Kurt wasn't sure what Blaine meant, but he knew it wasn't anything good.

"Shhh… it's okay." Kurt didn't know how to comfort Blaine, so he settled on holding the boy while he sobbed, despite the fact that he could feel Blaine's tears seeping through his cardigan and shirt. He gently rubbed Blaine's back, wishing he knew why Blaine was suddenly so upset. Eventually Blaine's shoulders stopped shaking, but neither boy moved. "Do you want to tell me what that was about?" Kurt asked softly. He felt Blaine shake his head.

Kurt sighed, turning to kiss Blaine's cheek. "Do you want to lay back down?" Blaine nodded, and Kurt gently let go of Blaine so that the older boy could lie back against the pillow. Kurt pushed some of Blaine's curly hair away from his face. Kurt glanced up at Blaine's nightstand, raising an eyebrow at the orange pill bottle that was sitting there. He picked it up, reading the name and the bottle's contents. "Why do you have your mom's painkillers here?"

"She gave them to me when I hurt my back last semester," Blaine replied, his eyes closed.

"Did you take any of these today?"

"No. I forgot they were even there." Kurt nodded, pocketing the bottle. It was better if he took them away from Blaine, at least for now. Especially since Blaine had admitted to wanting to take some pretty drastic measures to make himself supposedly feel better. "You should go to rehearsal…"

"I'm not going to leave you alone. Not when you're so upset." Kurt picked up one of Blaine's hands, wrapping it with both of his.

"Kurt…"

"No. We'll pack up some more of your uniforms, and then we'll go home." Kurt stood up and walked over to Blaine's closet, pulling out some of his clothes.

"I only need one more uniform… we can come back to the dorms on Sunday."

"Just in case," Kurt replied. He was fairly certain that they wouldn't be moving back in on Sunday; Blaine was having such a rough time dealing with everything that had happened, and Kurt wasn't going to just ignore that. He had every intention of talking to Carole and his dad when he got home, because Kurt had promised to keep them informed about what was going on with the older boy.

"You don't think I should be at school yet, do you?" Blaine asked.

"I think you rushed yourself. You need to go to school, yeah, but you also need to take care of yourself. And that's more important than school right now," Kurt replied.

"How much school did you miss when your mom died?"

"I don't know… I don't remember. But I didn't go back to avoid working out my feelings about what was going on."

"Nick missed three days last year when his dad died. _Both_ of his parents are dead. He pulled himself together enough to get back to school, and I should be able to do it, too…"

"You aren't Nick," Kurt pointed out. "You can't expect yourself to be ready just because someone else was. And I know about Nick… did you know that he's in therapy? Or that he nearly killed himself over winter break last year?"

"What…? But Nick's always so happy…" Kurt sighed and turned around to face Blaine again, crossing his arms.

"Nick is a good actor. And yeah, he's happy now. But he's on anti-depressants and he goes to see a therapist every Wednesday right after rehearsal… he has to work at it." Kurt watched as Blaine sat up, looking down at the bedding. Blaine's fingers absently played with the fabric for a moment.

"How do you know all of that?"

"Nick told me about it on Monday during free period. He asked if I'd heard from you," Kurt replied. He walked back over towards the bed and sat back down. "I don't want you to end up like Nick. I don't want you to be so unhappy that you feel like you don't have anywhere else to turn but to pills or a razor. But you have to deal with your feelings… you have to deal with what happened to your mom, and you have to do it in your own time."

Kurt watched as Blaine finally nodded, accepting what Kurt was saying. "Can we go home now?" Kurt smiled slightly as Blaine referred to his house as "home."

"Yeah. Okay. Let's go home."

* * *

Blaine tapped his pen against his book, leaning his head against one of his hands. He was getting frustrated with his chemistry homework, mostly because the words weren't making sense any more. He had been working since they had gotten home from school without taking a break except to eat dinner, and it was getting late. Blaine looked up as he heard a knock at his door.

"Come in." Blaine sighed as the door opened, revealing both Burt and Carole. This didn't bode well.

"Can we talk to you, Blaine?" Carole asked. Blaine nodded, closing his book and putting it on the nightstand next to his bed along with his pen. The two came into the room and Carole sat down on the other end of his bed. "Sweetie, we talked to Kurt a little while ago. He told us about what happened at school today."

"I think I may have pushed myself a little too hard to get back to school… I just didn't want to let anyone down."

"You need to think about yourself, Blaine. Not everyone else. The Warblers can get along without you, and so can every other activity you're part of at Dalton." Blaine nodded at Burt's words. "Carole and I talked about it, and we want you to stay home again tomorrow. You can work on getting caught up with your homework, and we'll talk to the school and let them know what's going on."

"But I've already missed so many days…" Blaine began.

"It isn't going to do you any good to just sit in classes when you aren't ready to be back. We're just talking about a few more days right now." Blaine sighed and nodded at Carole's words. It wasn't going to do him any good to argue with the Hummels; they were responsible for taking care of him now, and Blaine knew that Burt and Carole took that role seriously.

"What about Regionals? They're next Saturday… if I don't go to school I'm not allowed to rehearse, and I won't be able to perform. The Warblers will be short a member…"

"We'll see… but you aren't going to push yourself just for a competition. The other Warblers will understand," Burt replied. Blaine nodded again, sighing. "You should get to bed. It's getting late, and I know you're probably tired from working on homework all night." Blaine wasn't at all surprised when Carole leaned in and gave him a hug, pressing a soft kiss to his forehead. He'd learned that Kurt's stepmother was the affectionate type, and he actually liked that about her. It reminded him of his own mother, but in a good way.

Blaine watched as they walked out of the room, leaving him alone to get ready for bed. He was digging through a dresser drawer when he heard another knock on the bedroom door. Blaine turned around, leaning against the dresser and crossing his arms as he realized it was Kurt at the door.

"Don't be mad at me. I just… I needed to make sure they knew what was going on. I really don't want you to hurt yourself…" Blaine shook his head.

"I'm not mad. I'm not happy, but I'm not mad, either."

"Do you feel anything?" Kurt asked.

"Frustration. Mostly with myself for getting so upset."

"You have every right to be upset, Blaine."

"I just feel like I should be able to get over this," Blaine replied. "It shouldn't be this hard…"

"But it is. It's this hard for everyone." Blaine looked down at the floor, not wanting to look at Kurt's face. He was exhausted from all of the stress, but he wasn't sure he was actually going to be able to sleep. He hadn't been sleeping well for a while, and it seemed to only be getting worse.

Before Blaine really knew what was going on, Kurt's arms were wrapped around his torso again. Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt again, leaning against the younger boy for a moment. "You should get some sleep. You're so exhausted," Kurt commented. Blaine nodded, pulling away from the hug as Kurt did the same.

Blaine sighed as Kurt left the room, closing the door so that Blaine could change into his pajamas. As soon as he had changed Blaine sat down at his computer, lifting the screen and opening up his e-mail.

_Nick,_

_I'm sorry I was such an ass this afternoon. I'm not doing so well right now – I'm exhausted and I'm barely sleeping._

_Tell me it gets better. I don't think I can get through this unless I know that it will end soon. I feel like I'm falling apart here, and I know that I should be able to pull myself together but I just _can't. _And that scares me. I don't know who else to turn to… Kurt sort of gets it, obviously, but it's been so long for him. He had someone else to turn to when things went to shit, but I feel like I'm all alone here._

_It gets better, right?_

Blaine hit send and closed the computer before he walked over to his bed. He curled up under the covers, letting the tears overflow again because he didn't know how to keep them at bay any longer.

* * *

Nick glanced up as his phone chirped, signaling that he had a new e-mail. He wasn't sure who would be sending him an e-mail at 11:30 at night, but figured that it must be important.

Nick sighed and bit his lip as he read Blaine's message, sighing as he glanced at the silvery white scars that crossed both of his wrists, remembering what he'd felt when he was in Blaine's position.

_Blaine_,

_I wish there was something I could tell you that could make the pain go away, but it's one of those things that you just have to go through. I didn't deal with it for a long time, and I fell apart._

_It does get better, but it takes time. It's going to hurt for a while… there's nothing anyone can do to make it hurt less. But you don't have to be afraid, Blaine. This is normal. And you're not alone… you have Kurt and his family. And I'm here whenever you need to talk, okay?_

_You're not alone. It may feel that way, but you're _never_ really alone as long as you have friends. And you have a lot of friends who love you. Don't ever forget that. Let us help you and be there for you. I nearly ruined a lot of friendships because I didn't want to let anyone in – I didn't want to let anyone know just how much I was hurting._

_Call me if you need me._

Nick sighed, hitting the send button on his screen and gently rubbing his thumb against the band of scar tissue on his left wrist. Maybe he'd gone too far by trying to force Blaine to eat earlier in the day. But Nick wasn't going to let his friend end up in the same position he had been in just a little more than a year earlier.


	5. Helping

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Glee or any of these characters… if I did, Karofsky wouldn't exist anymore, Jesse wouldn't have been such an asshole (albeit one I believe legitimately fell for Rachel), and there would be a LOT more Blaine.

**A/n: And it's done. I'd forgotten how quickly I could churn out chapters when I actually had time to sit and think about what I wanted to do.**

Nick was a little nervous about doing this. He'd skipped his last class to make sure that he would have time to drive all the way out to Lima and still make it, whether Blaine decided to go with him or not.

Nick rang the doorbell at Kurt's house, biting down on his bottom lip as he waited. He wasn't positive that this was a good idea, but his grandmother had told him that he should at least try to get Blaine to go with him.

The door opened and a woman Nick assumed was Kurt's stepmother smiled at him. He'd never actually met Kurt's family before, so he couldn't be positive. But she seemed to recognize his uniform, which meant that he'd probably gotten the address; Nick hadn't thought to write down the address, so he'd just been hoping that he remembered it correctly. "Can I help you?"

"I'm Nick… I go to school with Kurt and Blaine. I was wondering if I could talk to Blaine…"

"Sure… why don't you come inside. I'll go get him."

"Actually, before you do that… do you mind if I take Blaine out for a while? I… I think it might help…" Nick watched as the woman nodded, her smile widening slightly.

"If he'll go with you, I don't see why not. As long as you have him home by ten." Nick nodded, smiling.

"Yeah, no problem. It's just for a couple of hours."

"I'll go get Blaine… why don't you sit down, it'll be a minute." Nick nodded, perching himself on the edge of the couch as Kurt's stepmother went upstairs. He couldn't help it as his knee bounced slightly while he waited.

"Nick? What are you doing here?" Nick stood up as he heard Blaine's voice. The boy looked a little better than he had the day before – a little less tired, but still as though he needed more sleep. Nick was just glad that Blaine was already dressed.

"After your e-mail last night, I decided that there was somewhere I should take you. Do you mind?" Nick watched as Blaine turned toward the kitchen, where Kurt's stepmother had disappeared. "She already said it was okay. It's just for a few hours. Trust me, okay?" As soon as Blaine nodded, Nick smiled. That was the hard part of his plan. "C'mon. We need to hurry… I don't want to be late."

"Late?" Nick ignored Blaine's question as they walked out to Nick's car, picking up Blaine's coat on the way.

Most of the drive itself was quiet, the only noise coming from the radio. Nick let Blaine control his iPod, but the curly haired boy didn't seem to care. Blaine picked one song, and then let the shuffle take over. Nick wasn't sure what to say in person; over e-mail he could think about things a little more, make sure his words were exactly right. He didn't want to say anything that would make Blaine feel any worse, so he chose to just keep his mouth shut.

Nick pulled into the parking lot outside the church, unsure of what Blaine was going to say. He hadn't meant to be facing the cemetery, but there really wasn't a way to avoid it – the door they needed to go through was on that side of the building.

"What are we doing here?" Nick glanced at the clock, deciding that they had enough time for Nick to explain things before they needed to go inside.

"I know Kurt told you about me… I told him that he should, if it would help." Nick pulled his left arm out of the sleeve of his blazer and unbuttoned the cuff, rolling it back a couple of times to expose the scars. "I refused to let anyone help me after my dad died. I didn't want to be a burden… I didn't want people to know that I was hurting that much. So I found other ways to cope. Ways that weren't healthy. And it really ended up hurting everyone more than it would have if I'd just admitted I needed them…"

Nick held out his arm to show his friend the scars. "There are more elsewhere… I'd show you, but it would require taking off a lot more clothing. These were some of the last cuts I made," Nick commented. He pointed to the largest of the scars for a moment. "This one was the last… I was so depressed; I just didn't give a shit any more. I was planning on slitting both my wrists and just letting myself bleed to death… I'd even taken a handful of sleeping pills so I wouldn't notice it when I was dying."

"Nick…"

"I was lucky… my grandmother found me before I'd lost very much blood, called 911. I spent all of Christmas break in the hospital."

"You don't have to tell me all of this…" Blaine began.

"I think you need to hear it. Because we're all trying to make sure that you're okay… that you aren't feeling like it's hopeless. I think you need to know that there are people who've been there, who want to help you. Which is why we're here."

"I don't get it… are you trying to convert me or something?"

"It has nothing to do with the church. They just let us use the space because the old minister's wife started the group… a lot of the other people aren't religious. I think Erin's actually an atheist…" Nick glanced at the clock. "We should go inside. It starts in a few minutes."

Nick got out of the car, watching to see if Blaine was following him as he rolled down the sleeve of his shirt and buttoned the cuff again, loosening his tie slightly. They walked inside together, Nick leading Blaine over to a table where there were several markers and a stack of nametags. He handed one of the tags to Blaine before writing his own name on one of them and sticking it to his shirt. He'd left his blazer in the car.

As soon as they had their nametags, Nick led Blaine into a room that had several chairs and couches and towards one of the couches that was sort of in a corner. "You can sit wherever you want. And you don't have to say anything if you don't want to… just listen." Blaine nodded and Nick smiled at him, trying to reassure him that it was okay. The soloist seemed to be nervous about being there. "It really is okay. No one is going to bite, I promise. They're actually all really nice."

"I don't know about this…" Nick placed a hand on the other boy's shoulder.

"It's okay. Everyone here knows what you're going through… we've all lost a parent. Or both. Nothing you say is going to surprise anyone here."

The two boys sat down, with Blaine tucking himself into one corner of the couch and pulling his knees up to his chest. Nick recognized that posture; he'd done the same thing when he'd first started attending the support group because he wasn't ready to talk. He just had to hope that Blaine would realize that this was a safe place and become comfortable with the idea of sharing his story soon. Nick reached out and gently put a hand on Blaine's shoulder as the meeting started, smiling at the boy when he looked up for a moment.

Nick couldn't help being preoccupied while a few of the other members were talking; he was worried about what Blaine was thinking, whether or not the boy would be willing to come back with him again. He wanted to make sure that Blaine was going to be okay; Nick had been through so many of the same things and he couldn't stand the thought of seeing his friend fall apart like that.

"Nick, it seems like you're somewhere else today." Nick looked up as he realized that his name had been called. "Is everything alright with you?"

Nick nodded. "I'm doing okay… school's kind of stressful, but I'm dealing. I'm kind of worried about a friend, though."

"Is everything alright?" Nick glanced at Blaine, but the boy didn't seem to take any notice of him. He was lost in his own little world, and Nick wasn't really sure how much Blaine would want him to tell.

"His mom died last week. I… I don't know a lot about what happened. It's not really my place to say anything…" Nick gently placed a hand on Blaine's knee, trying to snap him out of his thoughts and get some kind of affirmation that it was okay for him to be telling the group what was going on.

"Is this your friend?" Nick nodded, a little worried that Blaine still wasn't acknowledging the conversation. He knew it wasn't a good idea for them to push him, but he wanted Blaine to be ready to talk. "Blaine?" The curly haired boy looked up when his name was called. "Do you want to talk about it?" Nick watched as Blaine's face visibly paled (something Nick hadn't even though possible) while he shook his head. After a moment, the boy shot up and ran out of the room. Nick sighed.

"I'm sorry… I guess it's too soon," he said, jumping up and following Blaine out into the hallway. Blaine was standing just inside the glass double doors, leaning his forehead against the glass with his eyes closed behind the black frames of his glasses. Nick reached up and put a hand on Blaine's shoulder as he walked up. "Hey. You okay?"

"I'm sorry. I just… some of the things they were saying…"

"I know… it's intense at times. I should have talked to you more before I brought you here, made sure you were ready for that…" Nick bit down on his bottom lip for a moment. "Do you want to go?"

"You can go back… I'll be okay. You don't have to leave just because of me."

"It's not a big deal. I'm here every Friday… it won't hurt to miss one week. I'm actually doing okay right now." Nick led Blaine back out to the car, cranking it up and starting back towards Lima. "Do you want to get some coffee or something?"

"I'd rather just go home… I'm still kind of tired…" Nick nodded. Obviously Blaine wasn't ready yet. Nick just had to hope that it wouldn't take too much longer; he wasn't sure that Blaine was going to make it through much more of this.

* * *

Blaine stared at the homework he'd been working on silently, thinking over what he'd heard during the meeting Nick had taken him to. He appreciated it, really. Blaine just wasn't sure he was ready to actually think about the emotions he was feeling; he was having a hard enough time dealing with the emotional roller coaster he'd been on for the past week. One minute he was okay, the next he was fighting back tears over absolutely nothing, and a minute later he wanted nothing more than to punch something or yell because he was so _angry_ and he didn't understand why. It was frustrating and exhausting, and all he really wanted was for things to at least be a little bit normal because he wasn't sure he could take it any more.

"What are you up to?" Blaine turned his head towards the door of his room, smiling slightly at Kurt.

"Makeup work. I'm trying to get caught up as much as possible so that it won't take so long when I get back." He closed his eyes as Kurt sat down on the bed next to him, squeezing one of his shoulders. "It's overwhelming… I spent a week not even bothering to think about school, and now it's like my homework assignments are mating. Or reproducing asexually."

"Obviously you liked biology more than you like chemistry."

"Biology made more sense… less math. This whole balancing thing with chemical reactions is a pain in the ass," Blaine replied.

"Do you need some help? I'm pretty sure I understand what's going on."

"I'm good… I was about to pack it up for a while anyway. I've been working since six."

"You've got to be kidding me… why did you get up so early?"

"Couldn't go back to sleep. It's been happening a lot lately…" Kurt's hand gently rubbed his back and Blaine smiled slightly.

"That's really not healthy."

"Tell me about it. I've never felt shittier in my life…" Blaine rolled over onto his back, closing his eyes. "I can't afford to get sick again, but I feel like it's inevitable at this point."

"You should really talk to someone about that…"

"I thought I was."

"I mean an adult. You know that Dad and Carole would be willing to do whatever they need to do to help you… and you obviously need someone to do something to help you. You're…"

"I'm fine, other than the sleep thing." Blaine purposely ignored the look on Kurt's face.

"Come with me." Blaine could tell from the tone of Kurt's voice that the boy meant business, so he did what he was told and got off the bed to follow Kurt. He raised an eyebrow as the younger boy led him to the bathroom. "Scale. Now." Blaine sighed, shaking his head and doing what he was told. Blaine crossed his arms, glancing down at the number.

"You do realize that you weigh less than I do right now, don't you? You're so much thinner than you were a week and a half ago…" Kurt began. Blaine closed his eyes as he felt Kurt's hands grazing across his sides. "Blaine, I can feel your ribs sticking out… I know you aren't doing it on purpose, but I still can't help but worry about you." Blaine glanced at Kurt and saw the pain in his eyes. It made him feel sort of guilty; Blaine hadn't realized how much Kurt really cared about him, that it was hurting the younger boy so much to see him like this.

Blaine stepped off the scale, turning towards Kurt and wrapping his arms around the countertenor's waist. He knew exactly what Kurt was doing, pointing out how unhealthy his current behavior was, even if it wasn't intentional. "I just… what is there that I can do? I'm so tired but I can't sleep… nothing tastes good any more, and if I force myself to eat I just feel like I'm going to be sick…"

"Why don't we just go downstairs and find something to eat? It's lunch time… anything sound particularly good to you?"

"Nothing sounds good to me. I'll just eat whatever you're having…"

"You would eat more if you were eating something you actually liked. What's your favorite food?" Blaine shrugged in response; the only thing he really wanted to think about was sleeping, but he knew that Kurt wouldn't let him get away with not eating. "Anything you really hate, then?"

"I can't have shellfish. And I'm really not a fan of tofu…"

"You seriously aren't helping me here…"

"I just really don't care, Kurt," Blaine replied, pulling away from the younger boy and sitting down on the edge of the tub. "I'm not eating because I'm not hungry. Nothing sounds good, nothing tastes good, there's nothing I want… I only eat as much as I do because I know that I _have_ to eat something." Blaine buried his face in his hands, hoping that Kurt would understand and stop asking so many questions that he didn't have an answer for.

"Okay. Okay. I'll figure something out." Blaine felt Kurt put a hand on his shoulder before the younger boy started to walk out of the room. "Why don't we go downstairs? We can put in a movie… maybe _The Princess Bride_?" Blaine shrugged in response, before he stood up to follow the younger boy downstairs. He could deal with that; Blaine actually really liked the movie Kurt had suggested. And it was a comedy, which was pretty much the only type of movie Blaine had any interest in watching at the moment.

Blaine followed Kurt like a puppy down the stairs and into the kitchen, sitting down at the table as Kurt started wandering around the kitchen trying to figure out what they could have for lunch.

"Don't make lunch… we can stop and grab something on the way." Blaine looked up as Burt walked in the back door.

"On the way where?"

"Reynoldsburg. We're going to get some more of Blaine's clothes and things… get started cleaning out the house." Blaine looked up, biting down on his bottom lip. "Don't worry. It's just for a couple of hours, and we don't have to touch anything you aren't ready to deal with." Blaine nodded; he'd known that they would have to take care of the house at some point. Not to mention his mother's car and all of her belongings.

Blaine got up silently and went back up to his room, sliding his feet into an old pair of shoes. He knew that under other circumstances Kurt would probably berate him for wearing these shoes, but the boy was going to leave him alone at the moment because no one really wanted to deal with another of his mood swings. He knew that Blaine didn't really care what he looked like, and until the older boy started actually caring again it was pointless to bug him about it.

Blaine curled up in the back seat of Kurt's SUV, wrapping his arms around his knees and letting his chin rest on his knees. He was asleep before they had even finished backing out of the driveway.

* * *

Blaine stared at the mirror of his dresser from the bed, his knees pulled up to his chest. "Blaine… you ready to go?" He shook his head, never taking his eyes off his reflection in the mirror. "Something wrong, kid?"

"I just… I'm not ready to leave her. Not yet." Blaine sighed, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. He felt Burt sit down beside him and wrap an arm around his shoulders.

"You're not leaving her, Blaine… she's always with you. Right here." Blaine opened his eyes as he felt Burt poke a finger in the direction of his heart. He bit down on his bottom lip for the millionth time, even though he knew that it was making his lips chap. "Why don't you take something of hers with you? Something special."

"I… I don't know if I can go in her room…" Blaine began, glancing at the doorway. He'd been terrified to go near his mother's room since he'd left the hospital, mostly because he didn't want the memories to become too much for him again. He watched as Burt nodded, gently squeezing his shoulders.

"It's tough, I know. But you're going to have to face it at some point… maybe it will help you."

"I don't want to deal with it yet… I'm afraid that it's going to be too hard, that I'm going to lose it if I actually do this…" Blaine whispered.

"You won't lose it. And we're all here to help you if you need us." Blaine nodded, standing up and crossing his arms. "What is there that you want? I can help you find it…"

"There's a necklace," Blaine replied, walking out into the hall. He stopped at his mother's door, his hand resting on the door handle for a moment. "She wore it every day for two years when my grandfather had cancer… she didn't take it off until after we'd buried him." Finally Blaine slowly turned the knob and pushed the door open, closing his eyes as his nose was assaulted by the scent of his mother's perfume. He'd almost forgotten what she smelled like. Blaine could feel the tears starting to slide down his face before he even got into the room.

"It's okay… take your time…" Blaine sighed as Burt squeezed his shoulder again. He walked over to his mother's dresser, his hand softly stroking the top of the wooden box where his mother had kept all of her jewelry before he lifted the lid and started digging through the box's contents. Each piece was wrapped in tissue paper and Blaine carefully unwrapped and then re-wrapped each necklace until he found the small silver disk he was looking for. He curled his fingers around it quickly, wondering what he should do with the delicate piece of jewelry.

"Burt… c-can I have a minute?" Blaine asked. He sat down on the edge of his mother's bed, gently playing with the necklace as he waited for the older man to leave. Almost immediately, he felt the tears streaming down his face, completely uncontrollable. Blaine let his body collapse across his mother's bed, burying his face into her pillow because it still smelled like her and that was comforting to him. He hugged the pillow to his chest tightly, just letting the tears fall without worrying about whether or not anyone saw. He had a feeling that Burt would keep Kurt away from the room for a while so that he could have this moment.

Blaine wasn't sure how long he was in there; he felt fairly sure that he'd fallen asleep at some point and his nose was clogged up to the point that he was forced to breathe through his mouth. Blaine got up and wandered into his mother's bathroom, grabbing a tissue from the box and blowing his nose into it before he wadded it up and threw it into the trashcan. He looked at himself in the mirror and sighed, shaking his head. After a moment, he glanced down at the necklace still grasped in his fist and undid the clasp, fastening the necklace around his neck and tucking it under his sweater. Oddly enough he felt better.

"Blaine?"

"In here…" he replied, walking out of the bathroom. Kurt was waiting in the doorway for him.

"My dad says we need to go… are you okay?" Blaine nodded, walking over towards Kurt and sighing. He still wasn't ready to talk about it, but he didn't feel quite as lost and alone as he had for the past few weeks.

* * *

Blaine groaned as he opened his eyes, wondering why he was on the floor rather than in his bed. His head felt as though he'd been hit with a baseball bat and every other part of his body ached as well. "Blaine, are you okay?" It took a couple of blinks before he could focus on Carole's face, and he could tell that she was worried. Blaine wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew that it wasn't good.

"What…?" Blaine slowly pushed himself up into a seated position with his right hand before reaching up to rub his temple. Everything was sort of spinning, and it was all Blaine could do to keep himself upright. He instinctively cradled his left wrist against his chest without even thinking about it. His wrist was hurting almost as much as his head. Even after he sat up it took him a minute to realize that he was on the floor at the foot of the stairs, which made no sense because he had been in his bed when he'd fallen asleep.

"I think you were sleepwalking, sweetie… you must have fallen down the stairs." Blaine closed his eyes, feeling exhausted. He wanted nothing more than to fall back to sleep, but Burt seemed to have read his mind.

"Don't you dare fall asleep, kid. I'm taking you to the hospital… you can't go back to sleep in case you have a concussion." Blaine turned his head slowly towards Burt's voice, although even just that slight movement was enough to make him feel dizzy and a little nauseated.

"Should we call an ambulance?" Blaine started to shake his head in response to Carole's question, before he realized that it was only going to make him feel even more like vomiting.

"I think we can get him to the hospital without one… Blaine, do you think you can walk?"

"Yeah… I think so…" Blaine winced as Burt and Carole helped him to his feet, inadvertently jostling his injured arm. Standing didn't do anything to help his head; Blaine felt dizzier now that he was on his feet, and that certainly didn't help the nausea any. "I-I don't feel so good…" Blaine stumbled over towards the downstairs bathroom, dropping to his knees to deposit what was left of his dinner in the porcelain bowl. He could feel Carole rubbing his back and pushing his hair out of his face as he vomited, until it was all finally out of his system. Blaine felt like his head was going to explode, but at least he no longer felt like he was going to ralph on someone's shoes.

"Feeling better?"

"Yeah, a little…" Blaine closed his eyes as Burt and Carole helped him to his feet again. "Carole, will you help me take off the necklace? It was my mom's… I don't want to lose it." Carole's hands moved quickly and Blaine smiled slightly as she closed it back.

"I'll put it in your room. Are you going to be alright taking him on your own?"

"I think we've got it covered… I'll call and let you know what's going on as soon as I can. But maybe we should get some ice for his wrist before we go…" Blaine leaned against Burt slightly because he was afraid he might fall if he didn't. "You going to be alright, kid?"

"I'm just _really_ tired. And sore…"

"I'm sure. Just keep those eyes open… you can't fall asleep until a doctor has looked at you," Burt replied. Carole walked back into the room at that moment, gently placing a bag of ice into his good hand. Blaine gently held it against his wrist, hissing as the cold touched his skin. "Alright, kid, let's go."

The ride to the hospital was mostly silent, occasionally punctuated by Burt checking to make sure that Blaine hadn't fallen asleep. The hospital emergency room wasn't that busy, surprisingly, so it only took a few minutes for Blaine to be taken back into one of the curtained areas. The wait for a doctor, on the other hand, seemed to go on indefinitely.

"I can't believe they're making us wait this long. There's almost no one here…"

"It's a hospital… if you aren't dying, they think you can wait," Blaine replied. He winced as he tried to move his fingers.

"Don't do that… you don't know how bad it is yet."

"Something has to keep me awake until a doctor comes…" Blaine began. He glanced up as the curtain was pushed back. Once the doctor was there, it wasn't long before he'd been thoroughly poked, prodded, and x-rayed. In the end, he was diagnosed with a mild concussion, several bruised ribs, and a fractured wrist.

"Someone will need to wake him up every few hours. I'll give you a prescription for some painkillers for his arm. For now he just needs lots of rest. I'll give you a list of things to watch out for… if his symptoms get worse you'll need to bring him back in, but he should be fine in a week or so."

"What about school?" Blaine hadn't actually discussed going back to school with Burt and Carole yet, but he had a feeling that he should at least find out when he was okay to go from the doctor's perspective.

"That'll depend on how long it takes for your symptoms to start going away. You can try going to school when the headaches start to go away, but take it easy… I can write you an excuse for PE or any sports if necessary."

Within an hour Blaine's arm was encased in a fiberglass cast and they were on their way home. It itched, but Blaine couldn't do anything about it. The doctor had mentioned something about using a hair dryer, but Blaine wasn't really sure how that was supposed to work; he hadn't really paid that much attention because he'd spent the whole time the doctor had been going over his instructions fighting sleep.

"How you holdin' up, kid?" Blaine glanced at Burt before he answered.

"'m tired… can't wait to get home and go to sleep."

"We'll be back to the house soon."

"I guess this means there's no point in bringing up the possibility of going to school on Monday."

"Technically it's tomorrow at this point. And don't bother… you're not going until your concussion heals," Burt replied.

"I'm getting way too far behind…"

"We'll figure something out. I'm sure you'll catch up in no time."

"This is Dalton we're talking about… I feel like I'm buried in work up to my eyeballs. I'm already two weeks behind as it is…"

"Blaine, you've got to stop worrying so much about schoolwork. Most kids your age would kill for the chance to miss this much school… some of them literally. You need to just relax and get some rest, like the doctor said." Blaine closed his eyes and let his head lean against the cool glass of his window. "You'll get it all done. And your teachers will just have to deal with it and give you the extra time to complete your assignments because this is doctor's orders."

"Can we just not talk about this now?"

"Okay. But you have to do what the doctor said… you've spent enough time around hospitals lately."


	6. Meet the Parents

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Glee or any of these characters… if I did, Karofsky wouldn't exist anymore, Jesse wouldn't have been such an asshole (albeit one I believe legitimately fell for Rachel), and there would be a LOT more Blaine.

**A/n: So I know this chapter is slightly shorter than my others, but I had something I really wanted to accomplish with this one, and it didn't take 5,000 words to get there. But it's 4,700ish, which is close…**

The couch at the Hummel-Hudson home wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep in the world, but Blaine had been so exhausted by the time they got back from the hospital that he hadn't been able to make it up the stairs and into the bed. Not that Carole or Burt had seemed to expect him to; the couch had already been made up into a makeshift bed for him to sleep on, complete with an extra pillow to prop up his broken wrist. So he had fallen asleep there, not really thinking about the fact that Finn would probably be getting up kind of early to play video games or something like that.

Blaine groaned as he blinked a few times, willing his head to stop aching from something as simple as a little light. He hadn't had a concussion in a long time, and he'd forgotten how much it all hurt. The sound of video game gunfire echoed through his skull in an obnoxiously uncomfortable way. "Can you turn that down, please?" he muttered, covering his eyes with his right forearm. The sound almost instantly went down, but it didn't really help with his pounding headache.

"You okay, man? You don't look so hot…" Blaine opened his eyes again and glanced over at the recliner Finn was sitting in as he played Call of Duty.

"Finn, are you blind?" Blaine closed his eyes and smiled slightly at the sound of Kurt's voice. Leave it to the younger boy to point out that his step-brother had missed something so completely obvious to everyone else in the world. He didn't open his eyes again until he felt a soft hand taking his. "Come on, let's get you upstairs before the rest of the Neanderthals arrive. Finn apparently invited all of the New Directions guys over for a Call of Duty marathon without warning anyone in advance." Blaine let Kurt help him to his feet, wincing as he moved.

"What time is it?" Blaine asked. He and Burt had gotten home shortly before dawn, and he didn't remember whether or not anyone had woken him up yet. Of course, given how exhausted Blaine had been (and still felt, if he was being completely honest) it wouldn't be all that difficult to imagine that he had fallen back to sleep without really waking up enough to remember what had happened.

"Almost noon. Carole was going to wake you up to eat breakfast, but every time we said anything to you, you muttered a response and then fell back to sleep so we didn't push it." Blaine nodded slightly. They walked up the stairs slowly, with Blaine leaning slightly on the taller boy as they made their way back up to what was now Blaine's room. He didn't really _need_ Kurt's help, but Blaine liked the fact that the countertenor was so close to him. "What do you want to eat? Carole's planning on making some pizzas for the guys, but I can throw together something else for you if you want."

"I don't really care… I just want to go back to sleep," Blaine muttered. All he really wanted was a pain pill and a place to lay down so that he could go back to sleep. His wrist was starting to ache and he knew that it was only a matter of time before it actually escalated to pain.

"You need to stay awake long enough to eat something so that you can take your pain pills," Kurt reminded him. Blaine closed his eyes as they walked down the hall, thankful that Kurt was helping him. "Hey… stay awake. Pain pills, remember?" Blaine opened his eyes with a sigh. His arm and chest were both aching, and it was probably a good idea for him to stay awake the way Kurt suggested.

"Maybe just a sandwich? I don't want to be a bother…"

"You need something more substantial than a sandwich."

"Sometimes I feel like you get a kick out of acting like my mother," Blaine commented, smiling slightly at Kurt.

"You need someone to make sure you're taking care of yourself. You have to admit you haven't exactly been the best about doing that lately." Blaine sighed, knowing that Kurt was right. He sat down slowly on the bed in his room, wincing slightly. "Sleeping on top of the covers?"

Blaine glanced around him, a little surprised to see that someone had made his bed for him since he'd fallen down the stairs early that morning. "Yeah, I guess I am." Blaine grabbed one of the pillows and positioned it under his broken arm as he lay down. He'd lost the sling somewhere along the way; it was probably back in the living room where he'd been sleeping. He couldn't actually remember taking it off, but at the same time it seemed as though there were quite a few things that Blaine didn't quite remember at the moment. Blaine closed his eyes, wanting nothing more than to sleep.

"I'm going to go find something for us to eat other than pizza. Maybe we can go in my room and put on a movie while the guys play downstairs? I brought home some of my movies so we'd have something to watch, just in case."

"'Mkay," Blaine muttered. He drifted in and out while Kurt was gone, unable to keep himself completely awake without something to do. It wasn't until he felt a pair of soft lips pressing against his that Blaine woke up. "Definitely like that kind of wake-up call," Blaine replied, smiling up at Kurt. He didn't really think about the significance of that kiss just yet.

"Come on… I set up a movie for us in my room. It's a little further from the living room, so hopefully we won't have to deal with the obnoxious sound of more gunfire in there."

"Which movie?"

"_Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoneix_. I know it's one of your favorites."

"I'll sleep through it anyway," Blaine replied. "Do you know where the pills for my arm are? It's really starting to hurt…"

"There's one in my room with your lunch. Carole figured you would be needing something by now." Blaine let Kurt help him up again, before he followed the younger boy into his room. Somehow he managed to keep the pillow tucked between his arm and his chest the whole way there. He wasn't really thinking about it; it just sort of happened. He moved the pillows on Kurt's bed around, positioning them so that he would have something to lean against while they ate. Blaine sat down on the bed, closing his eyes again. "Hey now… you have to stay awake to eat. And Carole told me to make sure you ate before you took anything, because this stuff might make you sick."

"Because of course they can't make painkillers that won't make you sick if you take them on an empty stomach." Blaine opened his eyes with a sigh, adjusting the pillow under his arm in an attempt to get comfortable. It was a lost cause; without the medication that Kurt had for him, there was no way he was going to get comfortable enough to sleep or anything like that. "I thought the purpose of this cast was to hold my arm still so it _wouldn't_ hurt."

"The purpose of the cast is to keep your arm still so that it will heal. The medicine is for the pain." Blaine shook his head slightly. "It's just a little while longer… as soon as you've eaten something, I'll give you the medicine. Then you can go back to sleep, if you want." Blaine took the bowl Kurt offered him, glancing down at the salad the younger boy had created. It looked good, even though Blaine was fairly sure that he wasn't going to be eating a lot of it. It seemed like no matter how hungry he felt, he always lost his appetite mid-way through his meal.

Blaine picked up his fork, spearing a bit of lettuce and eating it. He didn't even really pay attention to the movie Kurt had chosen until he had forced down roughly half of the food. He suddenly wasn't hungry any more.

"You need to eat more than that." Blaine glanced over at Kurt, who was watching him more closely than he was watching the movie. Blaine sighed, knowing the younger boy was right. "Here… take this now, and then eat some more of your salad." Blaine took the pill from Kurt and popped it into his mouth, chasing it with a sip of water from the glass Kurt offered. "Go ahead… eat."

"Please don't push, Kurt…" Blaine began, closing his eyes and sighing. He opened his eyes again as he felt the soft feeling of Kurt's lips against his cheek. "What…?"

"You kissed me… a few days ago in your dorm room."

"I know…" Blaine began.

"I know you still want there to be more between us… and I want you to know that I still do, too. Even if you aren't ready – even if it takes a while to get to that point."

"You still don't think I'm ready for a relationship."

"I really do care about you, Blaine. It's why I keep bugging you about everything… because I'm worried about you. It's also why I don't want us to rush into this… why we need to go slow." Blaine closed his eyes and let his head gently roll so that it was resting on Kurt's shoulder. "Please just eat a little more… or I could get something else for you…"

"No… it's fine. I'm just not that hungry," Blaine whispered. He was exhausted, and he wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. He leaned over and pressed a soft kiss against Kurt's cheek.

"Okay." Blaine opened his eyes as he felt Kurt take away the remains of his lunch. He smiled slightly as the younger boy gently helped reposition him so that he was reclined against Kurt's chest. "Comfortable?" Blaine nodded, his eyes closing once again, exhausted. It was only a few minutes before the medication fully kicked in and Blaine was fast asleep.

* * *

"I'm just worried about letting him go… he's still having headaches, and even though I know that Kurt or Finn will be with him the whole time I still can't help but worry." Blaine stood just outside the kitchen, listening to Burt and Carole talk. He didn't mean to eavesdrop, but they were talking about him and Blaine knew that the moment they realized he was there the conversation would end. "I'd just feel better if one of us could go with him."

"I know, Burt. But they're starting to say things about how much time I've missed at work…" Blaine bit down on his bottom lip. It was his fault that Carole was getting into trouble at work; if he hadn't called Kurt, it never would have been Burt and Carole's problem. They probably wouldn't have even known about his mother dying if he hadn't picked Kurt's number instead of all the other numbers in his phone. Then again, the other people Blaine had considered calling wouldn't have really been much help considering the fact that they had no idea what it was like to lose a parent.

"It's been less than three weeks. Legally they have to give you twelve… we're his guardians, and that makes him our child for legal purposes. They can't do anything to you for taking a few weeks off to take care of him. Do not let them bully you." Blaine closed his eyes; he hated the thought that he was causing problems for Kurt and Finn's parents.

"I don't want to cause problems for anyone… you know how they can be at work."

"We'll finish this discussion later… the boys should be down any minute. We're not going to mention this to any of them, and especially not to Blaine. I'm not going to give him another excuse to try and rush to get back to school before he's ready." Blaine glanced over at the stairs as Finn came down, a confused look on his face. Blaine held a finger up to his lips, signaling for the football player to be quiet. He looked even more confused at Blaine's actions. Blaine turned and walked into the kitchen, pretending to adjust the sling that held his broken arm.

"Morning, sweetheart… did you sleep well?" Blaine shrugged in response to Carole's question.

"The pain pills still knock me out…" Blaine began. He smiled slightly as Carole put a hand on his shoulder.

"You need the sleep. How's your head feeling?" Blaine turned to look at Burt as he asked the question.

"Better. But it's been almost a week, so it should be getting there."

"Just remember to take it easy today. I know you want to go to the competition, but don't overdo it…" Burt began.

"I won't."

* * *

Blaine felt more than a little awkward sitting with the members of New Directions; he didn't really know any of them – at least he didn't remember meeting most of them, thanks to how drunk he'd gotten at Rachel's house party. He was just glad that none of them seemed to really care about that. The only somewhat awkward thing was that Brittany kept making comments about dolphins and Finn couldn't keep himself from laughing about it long enough to explain.

But then the competition had started, and all of the conversations he'd heard bits and pieces of ended quickly. Aural Intensity was good, but Blaine had a feeling that they weren't going to win this one; Sue Sylvester had made the mistake of choosing songs based on the personality of the judges instead of the abilities of her students. But their songs were done quickly, and after a short break it was time for the Warblers to perform.

Blaine felt strange, not knowing what his teammates were going to do. He'd asked Kurt not to talk about it in front of him, mostly because he knew that it would only make him miss the Warblers more than he already did. And while he wasn't gone forever – Blaine would be back performing with the group as soon as he was back at school, no matter how this competition turned out – it was still difficult. So Blaine resigned himself to sitting on the sidelines, part of what was going on as a spectator rather than a participant.

"_Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road,  
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go,  
So make the best of this test and don't ask why  
It's not a question but a lesson learned in time  
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right,  
I hope you had the time of your life._"

Blaine smiled up at his fellow Warblers from the audience. The song was perfect; Blaine could tell that they had put a lot of work into the arrangement because there was so much music without lyrics in the piece. Kurt had shown Blaine the video that he'd gotten the idea from the day before, and the Warblers were doing a good job of following the lead of the Broadway cast.

"_So take the photographs and still frames in your mind,  
Hand it on a shelf in good health and good time,  
Tattoo the memories and dead skin on trial,  
For what it's worth it was worth all the while  
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right,  
I hope you had the time of your life._"

Musical interludes had always been difficult for the Warblers; they weren't exactly made for acapella choirs, after all. But they were doing really well making it work, even if they weren't actually using words.

"_It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right,  
I hope you had the time of your life.  
It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right,  
I hope you had the time of your life._"

The song had worked out pretty much perfectly; Blaine wouldn't have been any happier with the performance unless he had been on stage with his friends and classmates. Performing was one of the few things that had never failed to make Blaine happy, and even though he knew _why_ he wasn't up there Blaine couldn't help but be sad about it.

"That was like… really good." Blaine shook his head at Finn's comment, smirking at Finn's comment and the looks that the rest of New Directions gave the football player.

"We can do better. They were missing their lead soloist, and although they compensated well we're still a stronger choir." Blaine closed his eyes at the sound of Rachel's overly confident voice. The sad part was, he knew that she was right. He'd heard Kurt's old choir sing quite a bit and Blaine knew that the Warblers had to be on their A game to even stand a chance. They could command an audience at Dalton, but competition was a completely different ballgame.

"Come on, guys… we need to go warm up." Blaine felt Finn touch his shoulder for a moment.

"I'll be fine… it's what, five minutes before Kurt and the guys get out here?" Blaine asked. "Good luck, guys."

Blaine bit down on his bottom lip briefly as he waited for Kurt and the other Warblers to come out from the back to join him in the theatre. He glanced up as he saw someone walking down the aisle towards him, completely skipping all of the empty seats.

"Sorry… these seats are taken…" he began, but the woman didn't listen as she sat down right next to him.

"I'm not looking to stay. You're Blaine Anderson, aren't you?" There was something about the woman's face that was familiar to him, but he couldn't quite place where he had seen her before other than the few seconds she had been standing when the judges had been introduced at the beginning of the competition. Not that Blaine actually remembered her name.

"Yes… how did you…"

"What happened to your arm? They aren't mistreating you, are they?" Blaine raised an eyebrow, confused about where this conversation was headed.

"The Hummels are being great… I'm sorry, who are you? I don't think we've actually met…"

"Just finish answering my questions… I only have a minute. What happened to your arm?" Blaine shook his head, still confused.

"I was sleepwalking… fell down the stairs…" Blaine watched as the woman stood up and started to walk away. "Wait… who are you?" The woman ignored Blaine's question, leaving him even more confused than he had been when she had first walked up to him. Blaine stared straight forward for a moment, trying to figure out what had just happened. Finally he caught a glance of the woman sitting across the room again, cell phone in hand.

Blaine stood up and started to walk towards the woman, until he felt a hand on his chest. "Dude, where are you going?" Blaine glanced to the side, surprised to see Wes's worried face standing there next to him.

"Wes, who did they say that female judge was? The older one, in the suit."

"Senator Jeanette Anderson. Why?" Blaine felt his stomach tie itself into a knot as his jaw dropped slightly. "Blaine?"

"I… I think that's my…" Blaine began. He stopped short when he saw a familiar face sitting right behind the woman. "Th-that's my dad. And my stepmom."

"What are you talking about?" Blaine felt Kurt put a hand on his shoulder as Wes asked the question.

"Blaine? Are you okay?" Blaine turned towards Kurt, knowing that the boy had seen his father before as well. He reached up with his good hand and gently turned Kurt's face in the right direction. "Oh."

"You see him too."

"Who? What the hell are you two talking about?" Wes asked.

"Blaine's dad…" Kurt began.

"But you don't know your dad, Blaine. You've never even met him."

"He came by the house, right after my mom died. He spoke to Kurt's dad, and then he left… I caught a glimpse of him through the window. It's the only time I've ever seen him, but I know that face…" Blaine started towards the opposite side of the room, just as the lights flickered.

"It's too late to go over there now. Just sit down with us, we'll go talk to him after McKinley performs," Kurt commented, gently pushing him towards their seats. Blaine let him, knowing that it was pointless to argue with Kurt about anything. Kurt was right, anyway; it was too late to do anything at the moment.

Blaine couldn't pay attention to the McKinley glee club while they performed. His mind kept being drawn back to the strange conversation with his stepmother and the fact that she and the one person he had been waiting his entire life to meet were sitting on the other side of the room. Blaine didn't care about his mother's arrangement with the Andersons or the fact that he wasn't supposed to meet them until he was eighteen. He had never agreed to that arrangement, and he was going to make sure that his father didn't leave that room until they had met.

The two songs New Directions performed passed quickly for Blaine; he had a million other things on his mind, and before he knew it the judges had left to deliberate and decide who would win the competition. Blaine knew that if he waited, the Senator would find some way to get his father out of there before he had a chance to speak with him; from what Blaine had overheard, it was all her fault that Blaine didn't have a relationship with his father.

"Where are you going?" Blaine hadn't even realized that he'd stood up until Kurt said something.

"To talk to him." Blaine felt Kurt grab his shoulder, stopping him.

"Are you sure about this? Does he even know what you look like?"

"His wife just came up and started questioning me about my arm and whether or not your family was treating me alright… I'm pretty sure that means my mom has been sending them school pictures on a regular basis…" Blaine began.

"Do you really want to do this? I thought your parents had some kind of agreement," Wes commented.

"I don't care about any arrangement they made. They didn't consult me, so why should I have to put up with it?"

"Your parents had a reason…"

"Well then he can explain to me what that reason is. Because I sure as hell don't understand what would possess them to decide that they should keep me away from my father." Blaine pulled away from Kurt as he spoke, starting over towards the man.

Blaine took a deep breath before he spoke, not exactly sure of what he should say. "C-can I talk to you?"

The look on the man's face when he saw Blaine standing there was hardly what Blaine had expected. He'd assumed that his father knew he was at the competition, but that didn't seem to be the case. "Blaine…" Blaine watched as the man stood up, straightening his suit jacket as he did so. "Blaine, I…"

"Please don't apologize to me. Don't say you're sorry for my loss or any of that bullshit. I just want to know why."

"Why what?" The look of confusion on the older man's face made Blaine sigh.

"Why did you refuse to meet me? Why weren't we supposed to meet until I was eighteen?" The man looked uncomfortable, but Blaine wasn't about to give up. Not until he had the answers he was looking for. So he stood there, staring at the man with his good hand tucked in the pocket of his jeans.

"It's complicated, son…"

"Don't call me that. You have no right to use that word with me…"

"Can we talk about this somewhere a little more private?" Blaine nodded, letting the man lead him out into the lobby and over to a couch in a corner. The two of them sat down, and it was quiet for a moment before either of them spoke. "Blaine, there are a lot of things about what happened between your mother and I that are hard to explain. At this point I can't even remember how we got started."

"You don't have to start at the beginning. I know about the affair and all of that. It's the reasoning behind the deal you made with my mother that confuses me. She always said she would explain when I was older."

"My wife found out about the affair not long after you were born… she was pregnant with our third son at the time, and she was furious with me. You have to understand that I love my wife very much. I loved your mother, too. But I had to make a decision, Blaine, and I chose to stay with my family." Blaine looked down at his cast, picking at the white part with his thumbnail.

"We weren't your family too?"

"I had a wife and three beautiful children at the time – a fourth one on the way. My wife promised that we would take care of you and your mother. And we have, and we plan to make sure that you have everything you need until you're finished with school."

"But I can't be part of your life. Even though you're my father, the one person that I've wanted to have a relationship with my entire life."

"You have no idea the impact that this kind of scandal could have on my wife's political career, Blaine."

"And that's more important than your son?"

"I have five sons, Blaine."

"But you can only claim four of them. You can't claim that I'm your son."

"It's bad timing, Blaine. In a little more than a year, when you're eighteen, Jeanette is willing to let you at least visit. We haven't even told our children about you yet… you can't expect us to just spring this on them without any warning." Blaine glanced over at the man as the lights in the lobby flickered, signaling that the winners were about to be announced.

"What makes it any less hurtful to her political career if you wait until I'm eighteen? You've still kept it a secret for years…" Blaine began.

"It was my wife's decision. I don't understand the significance of that date any more than you do, nor do I understand her reasoning for keeping you away from our children for as long as she has. But I know my wife, Blaine, and she has a good reason for all of this." Blaine glanced up, realizing that the lobby had emptied completely while they were talking. He suddenly didn't even care that he was missing finding out whether Kurt or his step-brother would be going to New York for Nationals. "I do want to know you, Blaine. If it had been my choice, I never would have abandoned you."

Blaine stood up, turning around to face his father. "It was your choice. You made it sixteen years ago, when you chose one of your families over the other." Blaine watched as the man shook his head.

"I know you're upset right now, Blaine. But I do want to be a part of your life, especially now that we've actually gotten a chance to meet." Blaine watched as the man reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a business card. 'This has my cell and work numbers on it. I want you to call me… any time, day or night. I'm going to make sure my secretary knows to put your calls through."

"I don't want to be put through…"

"It's the best I can do, Blaine. I promise you, once you turn eighteen things will change."

"Why should I believe anything you promise me?"


	7. Normal Routine

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Glee or any of these characters… if I did, Karofsky wouldn't exist anymore, Jesse wouldn't have been such an asshole (albeit one I believe legitimately fell for Rachel), and there would be a LOT more Blaine.

**A/n: So I really don't have anything to say here today… **

Everyone had thought that going to the competition would help Blaine by making him happy – seeing his friends, getting to spend time out with other people, keeping his mind off everything that had gone on in the past several weeks. But it wasn't difficult to see that he was even more depressed and withdrawn when the boys got home, and Burt and Carole were even more concerned.

"He's upset about something. I don't want to push him to talk if he isn't ready, but I feel like we need to make sure that he's okay…" Burt began. He stopped as he heard someone walking into the kitchen. They didn't want Blaine to overhear them talking about him, but the man was thankful to see that it was his son instead. "Hey, Kurt."

"I know you're talking about it, so I'm going to make this easy for you – Blaine ran into his dad at the competition. That's why he's upset. I don't have any details, but that conversation didn't go well." Burt sighed, shaking his head. He knew that was a bad thing – Blaine hadn't ever met the man before, and Burt hadn't been all that impressed with Mr. Anderson's manners.

"Thank you, Kurt."

"How much do you know about Blaine's dad?" Kurt asked. Burt shrugged, sighing. He'd wondered how long it would be before someone started to question him about Blaine's father.

"His wife's in politics… that's why he never claimed Blaine…"

"She's a senator. Jeanette Anderson," Kurt replied. Burt nodded, making a mental note to look the woman up the next time he was on the computer. He wanted to make sure he knew as much as possible about the situation so that he wouldn't be caught off guard again.

"I'm guessing that was part of what he found out at the competition," Carole replied.

"She was one of the judges. And Blaine's dad was there with her… he recognized his face from that day at the house." Burt nodded, sighing again.

"I guess we should go talk to him now, see if we can figure out where his head is," Burt replied, standing up.

"If you're planning on going upstairs to talk to me, you don't have to do that." Burt turned towards the door, smiling at Blaine. He wondered how long the boy had been standing there, but he knew better than to ask. "I know you were talking about me. What do you want to know?" The boy leaned back against the wall as he spoke, not actually looking at anyone. He looked uncomfortable and even more tired than he had the night before, which didn't make much sense given the fact that he had just woken up.

"Why don't we go into the living room? It'll be more comfortable…" Burt put a hand on the boy's shoulder and led him into the other room, steering him towards the couch and motioning for him to sit down. Blaine chose one of the chairs, and Burt and Carole sat on the couch so that they were facing him. "Blaine… we just want to make sure that you're alright. Kurt told us you ran into your dad yesterday."

Burt watched Blaine's face as the boy processed what he'd just said. "I don't know that I want to have anything to do with him. I… I know I can't stay here forever. But I just… I'm not ready to accept him into my life just yet. I don't know that I can…"

"Sweetie, you can stay with us for as long as you want. There's no rush."

"Carole's right. You're welcome to be part of this family for as long as you want. We agreed to be your legal guardians for a reason," Burt added. "Kurt really cares about you. We all do." Burt watched the curly haired boy closely, waiting to see if there was anything else that he really needed to say to help the boy.

"I think I just want to go back to bed, to be honest. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night…" Blaine began.

"Alright, sweetie. Go ahead." Burt and Carole watched silently as Blaine ascended the stairs, waiting until he was out of hearing range before they spoke again. "I'm worried. He's clearly upset about what happened yesterday afternoon…"

"There's nothing we can do until he's ready to talk about it. For now, we just wait for him to be ready to talk, and in the meantime we keep an eye on him. The boys can drive back and forth to school for another week or so, give Blaine some more time," Burt replied.

"Are we sure we want to send him to school on Monday?"

"We can't keep him home forever, Carole… he's already getting pretty far behind, and if he thinks he can handle it I don't see why we shouldn't let him at least try to get back into the swing of things."

"We can't force him to get better, Burt…"

"We aren't forcing him. It's up to Blaine whether or not he wants to go to school on Monday. But we can't keep him home much longer… the school is already bending the rules because of the situation, but he's only supposed to be allowed to miss two weeks a year." Burt leaned over and pressed a kiss against his wife's cheek. "We just need to give him some more time… he'll get over this in his own time. He just needs our support."

"And if he doesn't get over it in his own time?" Carole asked.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. We can figure things out as we go… we aren't exactly prepared for this any more than he was. And this whole situation with his dad… I don't think anyone knows how to deal with something like that, no matter how prepared they are for anything else."

* * *

Kurt hadn't expected for someone to knock on his door at four in the morning. His family knew better than to interrupt his beauty sleep for anything less than a natural disaster or fire. But given everything that had happened lately, he automatically knew who it was. So he wiped the sleep from his eyes as he stood up, walking over and opening the door to let Blaine come in. "Having trouble sleeping?" Kurt asked. Blaine nodded silently, moving into the room as Kurt made way for him. "Do you want to talk?"

"I just don't want to be alone right now." Kurt closed the door and nodded, putting a hand on Blaine's back and leading him over to the bed. "Can I… can I just stay here for a little while? Please?"

"Of course… you can stay as long as you want. I'll deal with my dad if need be. The worst-case scenario is another sex talk, and I'm pretty sure I can handle that." Kurt turned around and put a hand on Blaine's back. "Go ahead and lie down. I'll let you choose which side of the bed you want."

Blaine did as he was told, curling up under the covers of Kurt's bed. He was on his left side, his broken arm still in the sling that he hadn't taken off for some reason. Kurt lay down next to Blaine, turning so that he was facing the other boy and could take his good hand. He twined their fingers together, smiling at Blaine through the darkness. "Do you need anything?"

"Just for you to stay here with me. I… I'm afraid to be alone again." Kurt just nodded, bringing the boy's good hand up to his face and pressing a kiss against the back of it. "I have siblings, Kurt. Four half-brothers and a half-sister. I have a whole family that I've never even met…"

"Blaine…"

"He doesn't want me to have anything to do with them. Not until I'm eighteen. My youngest brother will be thirteen before I ever get a chance to meet him. One of my brothers is six months younger than I am… and I can't even meet the older ones yet. There's nothing I can do to change that…" Kurt watched the other boy closely. "I hate feeling this way… so out of control."

"I wish there was something I could do… some way to help you," Kurt replied. He leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss against the tip of Blaine's nose. He wrapped his arms around Blaine as best he could.

Kurt was a little surprised when Blaine leaned in and pressed a soft kiss against his lips. "Please just kiss me. Hold me. Be here… I can't be alone right now."

"I can do that." Kurt moved a little closer, making sure that he had as much physical contact with the older boy as possible. He also pressed another kiss against the older boy's lips, doing his best to fulfill Blaine's requests. "What else can I do for you? Do you want me to sing for you?"

"I'd like that…"

Kurt thought for a moment before he started singing softly. It was the first song that popped into his head, and he hoped that Blaine would fall asleep by the end of the first chorus because it wasn't really good as a lullaby after that.

"_Don't go to bed now love, I think it's too early  
And we both need a little time to ourselves  
If the clock tells me that it's four in the morning  
I'll give it hell_

"_Cause I've been trying way to long  
To try and be the perfect song  
When our hearts are heavy burdens  
We shouldn't have to bear alone_

"_So goodnight moon and goodnight you  
When you're all that I think about  
All that I dream about  
How'd I ever breathe without_

"_A goodnight kiss from goodnight you  
The kind of hope they all talk about  
The kind of feeling we sing about  
Sit in our bedrooms and read aloud  
Like a passage from Goodnight Moon…_"

Kurt trailed off as he realized that Blaine had fallen asleep in his arms. He wasn't going to continue singing the song if the boy wasn't listening. Eventually Kurt fell asleep as well, still cuddling close to the older boy.

The next morning, Kurt was thankful for his alarm clock because it meant that no one else in the house saw the two of them laying there, their arms wrapped around one another in a tight embrace. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with what they were doing – they had only slept in the same bed, with all of their clothes on. And while waking up at the same time would have been awkward – they were both boys, after all, and they both often woke up in the same… predicament – neither of the boys had anything to be ashamed of. So he turned off his phone alarm quickly and carefully disentangled himself from Blaine's arms without waking him.

"Kurt, do you want to…" Kurt turned around from his place at his vanity table to smile at Carole, who stood in the doorway. He watched as she raised an eyebrow and nodded toward the bed. "Is that Blaine?"

"He couldn't sleep last night… he didn't want to be alone." Kurt watched as Carole nodded.

"Do you want pancakes or waffles for breakfast?" she asked.

"Blueberry pancakes? Blaine loves blueberries." Kurt smiled at Carole as she nodded and started to leave the room. "Thanks, Carole."

"No problem, sweetie… come on down when you're ready. Breakfast should be done within an hour or so. And let him sleep, while he can…" Kurt nodded before he turned back to his mirror to finish his morning skincare routine.

Kurt simply sat there for a while when he was finished, wondering whether or not Blaine would wake up before breakfast. He couldn't sit there forever, though, and eventually he stood up and started out the door to go downstairs.

"Please don't leave me…" Kurt almost didn't hear the whispered words from the bed. He turned around slowly, glancing at Blaine. The boy's eyes were closed, but he had moved and Kurt assumed that he was at least partially awake.

"I was just going to go downstairs and get something to eat. Are you hungry?" Kurt watched as the boy nodded, his eyes staying open and his head never leaving the pillow. "Are you ready to get up?" Kurt smiled as Blaine slowly shook his head to indicate that he didn't want to move. "Well you can't have breakfast in my bed. And Carole's making blueberry pancakes."

Kurt smiled as Blaine's eyes instantly opened at the thought of his favorite pancakes. "Think I could get some help up?" Kurt hurried to the boy's side, gently hauling him into a sitting position before he pressed a kiss against Blaine's forehead. Kurt couldn't help but smile when Blaine stood up and wrapped his good arm around Kurt's waist.

"We should go downstairs… breakfast is probably already getting cold. And Finn is like a human garbage disposal, so if we don't get there soon there may not be any breakfast left to eat."

* * *

Monday had come far too fast for anyone in the Hummel-Hudson household's liking. Finn just generally hated Mondays, of course, because it meant that he had to go back to school after two days off. But on this particular Monday, Burt, Carole, and Kurt were a little more worried about Blaine than any of their usual Monday concerns. The boy had gotten up on time and gotten dressed and ready as well as he could without help, but he had barely opened his mouth other than what was necessary to brush his teeth.

"Let me help you with your tie…" Kurt reached up and started in on the Windsor knot for Blaine. The tie was a requirement for Dalton students, and Blaine had to wear it whether he could tie it himself or not. Kurt watched the older boy's blank stare as he fixed the knot carefully, adjusting the tie so that it would hang straight under the blazer that Blaine couldn't completely wear properly. They would at least excuse him for that.

"Are you sure you're ready to go back to school today, Blaine?" Kurt glanced over at Carole as she asked the question, smiling slightly as he realized that he wasn't the only person questioning whether or not Blaine should really be going back to school.

"I can't afford to miss any more… it's going to take me forever to finish all of the makeup work I already have."

"Just don't forget that you have some extra time. You don't have to finish everything immediately," Carole reminded him as the boys sat down at the breakfast table.

"I know… I'd just rather get it all over with, you know? I hate being behind…" Kurt reached out and put a hand on top of Blaine's injured one. They finished breakfast in silence, both boys hurrying a bit because they knew that they had to leave for school soon.

"We'll be home by dinner… there's no Warblers rehearsal this week. The council decided to give us some time off since we don't have to prepare for Nationals." Kurt watched Blaine for a moment before they both stood up and grabbed their bags to go to school.

The boys were silent for most of the ride to school, and Kurt knew that Blaine fell asleep at some point along the way from the soft snores that he heard coming from the opposite side of the vehicle. Kurt had almost expected as much, given how little Blaine had been sleeping. Kurt only knew that because Blaine had ended up in his bedroom more than once at some ridiculously early hour because he couldn't sleep while he was alone.

Kurt pulled his car into a parking spot in the student lot a good twenty minutes or so before they had to be in class. While he had planned to just turn the car off and let Blaine sleep as long as possible, the moment the vehicle stopped running Blaine's eyes started to blink open.

"Go back to sleep… we have fifteen minutes before we need to head inside."

"I should be in there doing schoolwork, not sleeping in your car.

"What good is it going to do you to go in there and make yourself even more tired? You'll get more done when you aren't so exhausted."

"I'm not exhausted."

"You fell asleep on the drive from Lima… while we were listening to Lady Gaga, I might add. If that isn't a definition of exhaustion, I don't know what is." Kurt turned in his seat so that he was facing Blaine. "Don't lie to me, please. I know that you aren't sleeping very much. That you're forcing yourself to eat because you don't want us to say anything to you about the fact that you aren't eating enough. Just tell me, okay? Tell me the truth when I ask how you're doing. Don't pretend that I don't see through you."

"Why do you care so much? Why do you make so much of an effort, when I'm just a mess?"

"Because I'm your best friend," Kurt began. "Because I really care about you. And if there was something I could do to make this all hurt less for you, I would do it in a heartbeat."

"I thought that all of the kissing meant that we were something more than just best friends…"

"Are you really in a position to be talking about dating?" Kurt asked. He reached out and put a hand on top of the cast that encased Blaine's left hand. "You need to take care of yourself. I don't want you to get hurt, but that's exactly what is going to happen if we push things."

"You keep saying that."

"And I'll keep saying it until it doesn't apply any more or you stop trying to push things to go faster than you're really ready for them to go."

"I wish you would stop trying to act like you're responsible for taking care of me. I'm almost seventeen… I can do a lot more to take care of myself than you seem to believe." Kurt watched as Blaine got out of the vehicle and started into the building by himself. He sighed before getting out of the car and following the older boy's lead.

As much as Kurt loved Blaine, dealing with the curly-haired boy's depression and the dramatic mood swings was really starting to grate on his nerves.

* * *

Blaine walked into the house a few steps ahead of Kurt, thankful that the school day was over. He'd survived his first full day back at school, but not without being completely exhausted by trying to keep up with the pace of Dalton after several weeks of being away.

"I just want to go lay down for a while… I can't believe the amount of homework I have to add to the pile of makeup work already."

"I'm sure you can afford to take a nap…" Kurt began.

"When am I supposed to have time for that? I have at least two hours of homework just from today, and if I don't do another two I'll never catch up."

"You'll get more work done if you're rested." Blaine sighed, shaking his head.

"I can't afford it…" Blaine began, dropping his bag into a chair at the dining room table and pulling out his homework to get started.

"You're studying down here?"

"I'm more likely to stay awake down here. More noise…" Blaine began. He smiled as Kurt sat down on the opposite side of the table and started pulling out his own homework. While he might be a bit of a distraction, having Kurt in the room would make it easier to stay awake. Especially given the fact that the countertenor would most likely start to sing at some point. Blaine loved to hear Kurt sing.

The two boys sat there in silence for a while, broken only by the occasional humming noise coming from Kurt. Blaine never really recognized any of the songs the boy came out with, but he still liked to hear it. Blaine couldn't help but smile slightly as he worked.

"You look happy." Blaine glanced up from his French homework for a moment as Kurt commented on the expression on his face.

"I like hearing you sing. Or hum." Blaine went back to his chemistry homework as he spoke, knowing that he didn't have any time to waste.

"That explains why you asked me to sing you to sleep the other night…" Blaine looked up again, raising an eyebrow. "You came into my room Sunday morning because you were having trouble sleeping. You asked me to sing to you." Blaine nodded, still not remembering the event Kurt was talking about.

"I don't remember that…"

"You passed out pretty quickly after I started singing. You've been really tired lately."

"Because I haven't really been sleeping." Blaine looked back down and started on the next problem on his chemistry homework before Kurt could make another comment. It wasn't that Blaine didn't want to talk to Kurt. If he had a choice, he would rather spend his time after school just relaxing and having a conversation with the younger boy over a cup of coffee like they used to. But he didn't feel like he had the time to do anything other than work on his homework and take care of the essential parts of life.

"It'll get better…"

"It has to… otherwise I'm going to pass out in class or something like that."

The two boys continued to sit there in silence for a while longer, until Kurt started actually singing.

"_There's nothing you can do that can't be done  
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung  
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game  
It's easy._"

"_There's nothing you can make that can't be made  
Now one you can save that can't be saved  
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time  
It's easy_," Blaine added, smiling slightly as he worked.

"_All you need is love,_" Kurt replied.

"_All you need is love._"

"_All you need is love, love, love is all you need._" Blaine looked up as he heard a third voice joining them, smiling as he realized that it was Carole. "Don't let me interrupt you boys… I love that song."

"I'm actually done with my homework… do you need some help with dinner?" Blaine sighed and went back to his own work as Kurt got up and went into the kitchen with his stepmother. He wished that he could be done already; Blaine hadn't ever really understood how Kurt could breeze through the work at Dalton once the boy had gotten caught up back before Christmas. Their grades were similar, but Kurt just seemed to catch onto things a lot faster than Blaine did.

It wasn't until he felt someone pulling the chemistry textbook from underneath his head that Blaine realized he'd fallen asleep at the table. Even the sound of Carole and Kurt chatting as they cooked dinner hadn't been enough to keep him awake. "Huh?"

"It's almost dinnertime, sweetie. Why don't you go wash your hands and get ready to eat," Carole replied, closing the book as Blaine sat up and moving it and his notebook and pencil from the table.

"I need to finish…"

"You can finish your homework after dinner. Right now you need to get up and go get ready to eat so that Finn can finish setting the table." Blaine did as he was told. He knew that he was going to get harassed about not eating if he didn't, and Blaine was really getting sick of everyone constantly watching him and monitoring every little thing he did to make sure that he was okay.

It took Blaine all of five minutes to get ready for dinner; washing his hands wasn't exactly easy with a cast covering most of his left arm. It was one of the many "simple" tasks that became pretty much impossible with a broken arm, and he had to change how he did just about everything about how he got ready.

Blaine made his way down the stairs slowly, holding onto the handrail tightly. He didn't want to fall again; the last thing he needed was to spend more time in the hospital because he was clumsy. He sat down at his usual spot at the table, smiling across at Finn who had already started filling his plate from the various serving dishes in the center of the table.

"We're not waiting for Burt… he had a customer come in at the last minute with an emergency, so he's going to be a little late tonight," Carole commented, motioning for Blaine to follow Finn's lead as she and Kurt walked out of the kitchen with all of their drinks.

The meal was pretty much silent. Finn was shoveling food down faster than Blaine had ever thought possible – the football player had to go back to school for additional rehearsals in preparation for Nationals. Blaine didn't have much to say because he also needed to hurry through the meal, although he wasn't eating as quickly as the other boy. And Kurt and Carole didn't try that hard to keep up a conversation because it was just the two of them even trying.

Blaine ate as much as he could; he knew that it wasn't smart to force down food, but he was really getting sick of the pointed glances and the constant reminders that he needed to eat more or sleep more or do whatever it was that Kurt and his family were worried about at that particular moment. Blaine wasn't the best actor in the world, but he could pull it off well enough to keep anyone from asking questions.

"Blaine, sweetie, do you want seconds?" Blaine shook his head as he took a sip of his water after taking the last bite from his plate.

"No, thank you. I think I'm just going to go upstairs and try to finish my homework… I still have a lot that I need to do tonight."

"Are you sure you don't want to at least have some dessert? We have ice cream…" Carole began.

"I'm full. May I be excused?"

"Of course, sweetie." Blaine got up from the table and picked up his bag from where Finn had put it when he'd been setting the table.

Getting back to work wasn't as easy as Blaine had thought it would be. He knew where he'd left off, of course; it was fairly obvious given the fact that he'd been working on chemistry problems rather than something like the books he was supposed to be reading for his English class. He'd been unlucky enough to leave during one book and to return during another, meaning that he had to work on reading them both simultaneously so that he wouldn't miss something important. But despite the fact that he knew where he was supposed to be, Blaine couldn't seem to get his head around the problems he was supposed to be working on. So instead, he settled on working on reading the English assignment for the next day until he could get his head wrapped around chemistry again.

"Need some homework help?" Blaine glanced up from his book, a little annoyed to be interrupted when he was on the last page of the assignment. But he smiled at Kurt anyway, shaking his head slightly.

"Nah… I'm almost done with what's due tomorrow. I just have to finish this chapter and a couple of problems from chemistry. Then I get to work on some more of the makeup work." Blaine smiled and rolled his eyes.

"You sound so excited…"

"It would be nice to get a break, you know? I know it's only the first night, but I feel like I'm doing nothing but schoolwork today. I know I'm going to get burnt out if I keep this up, but I don't have a choice…" Blaine began.

"You don't have to do it every day… they'll give you all the time you need to get caught up. And you can cut back a little on the weekdays if you do some work on the weekends."

"When am I supposed to find time on the weekends? Saturdays we have to go to Reynoldsburg and work on cleaning out my mom's house, and I spend Sundays sleeping because the only time I can actually fall asleep seems to be around four in the morning when everyone else in this time zone has already been asleep for at least three or four hours." Blaine closed his eyes.

"Do you want me to at least come sit in here with you so that you don't have to be alone? I can grab a magazine or something… I'll even sing to you again if you want." Blaine smiled.

"I would like the company…"

"You finish your reading… I'll be back in like, two seconds." Blaine shook his head and went back to his book. Sometimes he wondered why Kurt put up with so much from him and was still sticking around.

It took less than a minute for Blaine to finish the chapter, but Kurt was already sitting on the other side of his bed with a copy of Vogue by the time he closed it and put it away. Blaine smiled at the younger boy as he pulled his chemistry book back out of his bag and went back to tackling the last few problems on his assignment.


	8. Reaching Out

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Glee or any of these characters… if I did, Karofsky wouldn't exist anymore, Jesse wouldn't have been such an asshole (albeit one I believe legitimately fell for Rachel), and there would be a LOT more Blaine.

**A/n: So, is it bad that I'm kind of falling in love with my Nick? LOL… oh, and I met the REAL Nick on Tuesday! Curt Mega is SUCH a sweetheart – he'd been dropped off late because his parents were in town, so he was having some trouble figuring out how to get into the building. We met him on the street outside – we did a double take because we figured out who he was about the same time he did a double take because he realized we were wearing Dalton shirts. And then he got kind of excited because we recognized him. He was really awesome, and he signed stuff for us and took pictures and we just hung out for a few minutes until he had to go figure out how to get into the building. Meanwhile, like a dozen other Gleeks walked by and COMPLETELY ignored him, which kind of made me sad because he's a Warbler and he's AWESOME. Plus he drew an arrow from his signature to the picture of him on the back of my friend's Warblers CD, almost as if he wasn't sure we would remember who he was! Okay, end really super duper long author's note.**

It was finally Friday, and Blaine had made an important decision. So he'd told Burt and Carole that he might be late getting home. He'd told Kurt that he might not need a ride home, but that he'd let him know. There was only one more part of his plan – Blaine had to talk to Nick. And after what had happened the last time he'd gone with Nick, Blaine wasn't all that sure that the boy would be willing to let him go.

Blaine walked up to Nick and Jeff, who were standing outside their Spanish classroom talking about the homework. He stood a couple of feet away at first, waiting for the two to finish their conversation so that he wouldn't be interrupting. It was only another minute or so before the conversation was finished and Nick turned to face him.

"Hey, Blaine. Everything okay?"

"Would you mind… are you going this afternoon?" Blaine asked. He didn't go into too much detail with his question, hoping that Nick would catch on and understand.

"Yeah, I was planning on it. Do you… do you want to come?" Blaine nodded in response to Nick's question, not sure that he could actually answer with words. "I can drive you home afterwards… it's not a problem. I'll just text my grandmother and let her know that I might be a little later than usual." Blaine nodded again, following Nick as the boy started towards the front doors of the building and his car. Blaine got into the passenger's seat, dropping his bag at his feet and doing his best with the seatbelt before Nick eventually took pity on him and finished putting the buckle in.

The ride was mostly silent again, only this time Blaine actually knew where he was going and what to expect when he got there. "Just remember… you don't _have_ to talk if you still don't feel comfortable. But it will help, when you're ready." Blaine nodded as they got out of the car and walked into the church. Blaine scribbled his name down on one of the little stickers and carefully plastered it to the front of his sweater. He'd given up on the blazer after only a couple of days and had resorted to stretching out the sleeve of his cardigan instead to make it fit around his cast.

Blaine didn't make eye contact with anyone, even Nick. He was still a little nervous about the idea of talking about his personal life with all of these people he didn't know. But Nick said that it helped, and Blaine wanted to trust him. After all, Nick had gone through the same thing more recently than any of his other friends. So Blaine sat there and listened to what was going on around him for a few moments. One of the girls – she'd said her name was Kelly – was talking about the fact that her mother's birthday was coming up and it was making her rather depressed.

"Why don't we hear from our newcomer? Blaine?" Blaine looked up, biting down on his bottom lip for a moment. "Would you like to share?"

"I-I'm not sure I'm ready," Blaine admitted.

"You don't have to say anything unless you feel comfortable here. Why don't we start with something easy? How long has it been?"

"About a month. It's been… it's been hard."

"It is hard. And it's going to be hard for a while. But we're all here to help, if you want us." Blaine nodded at the group leader's comment. "Whenever you're ready." He took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment before he began.

"My mom died… she was diabetic, and she always had trouble keeping her blood sugar in check. She had just gone to the doctor the day before… I got a call before my first class from one of the neighbors saying she wasn't answering the door or her cell phone. She was already in a coma by the time anyone got into the house…" Blaine glanced Nick as he felt the boy gently squeeze his shoulder. "She was in the hospital for almost a week… it was hell."

"What about your dad? Or your grandparents?" Blaine glanced over at a girl with dark brown hair and pink tips, shaking his head.

"My mom's parents got pissed off at her when she got pregnant with me. My dad was cheating on his wife with my mom… his wife didn't want him to have anything to do with me. I'd never met him before last week. They've always paid for everything… school, clothes, whatever. I hate it… I'm not good enough to be part of their family, but I can't ever fully get away from them because of the money." Blaine closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the back of the couch he'd chosen to sit on. "I think what upsets me the most is that I've grown up thinking I was an only child… last week I found out that I have five half-siblings that I've never even met. And I'm not allowed to meet any of them until I'm eighteen…"

"Wait… you're not _allowed_ to meet your siblings? What kind of screwed up family would stop you from seeing them completely?" Blaine shrugged at the question, not knowing where it came from.

"A very rich and powerful family. Not quite like something out of _Gossip Girl_, but pretty close," Blaine replied. He sighed, reaching up and shielding his eyes with his good hand and closing them. "I've spent the last week trying to figure out how I feel about all of this, and I'm still not any closer to figuring it out. I can't even tell you what I'm _supposed_ to feel about the whole situation – how am I supposed to deal with all of this, on top of everything else that's screwed up?"

"Don't think about what you're supposed to feel," Nick commented. "You're the only person who knows what you feel. It's not like a test, where there's a right or wrong answer. And it's different for everyone. Don't worry so much about what everyone else thinks you should think or feel or do… that's not always what's best for you."

"Nick's right. Don't push yourself to do something just because you think it's what everyone else expects you to do… there's no such thing as a normal way to deal with all of this. Everyone has to go through this his own way."

"I just wish there was some way to make all of this easier."

"We all do, Blaine. We all wish that we could make it so that no one else ever had to feel this way… that we could all just deal with this without it hurting quite so much. But it's something that you have to deal with, that you have to get through. You'll only end up hurting yourself even more if you don't take the time to take care of yourself."

* * *

Nick smiled at Kelly as he opened a can of soda and grabbed a second one for Blaine. Normally he would have stopped to chat with her, but at the moment he had something slightly more pressing to deal with. Nick felt as though it was up to him to make sure that Blaine was okay after everything that had happened over the last hour or so. Nick walked back over to his friend, handing Blaine the can of soda and sitting down. "You did a lot better than I did my first time here…" he began. Nick watched as Blaine looked up at him while he opened the beverage.

"Technically not my first time," Blaine replied. Nick shrugged at the comment.

"I wasn't counting that, since you didn't stay that long. Listen, I came every Friday for over a month before I could say anything. I wouldn't even stay long enough to talk to people before or after a meeting for another three weeks after that."

"How do you get through this every week? How do you listen to all of this every week and not break down?"

"It gets easier… you don't have to come all the time, if it gets to be too much. But you're welcome to ride with me whenever you want. It's not that far out of my way to drop you off in Lima on the way back to my grandmother's house for the weekend." Nick watched as Blaine smiled slightly at him.

"Thanks, Nick. I'll probably take you up on that offer." Nick stood up, holding out a hand to take Blaine's soda so that the curly-haired boy would be able to get up from the sofa more easily.

"We should probably get going… I'm sure you've got plenty to do without sitting around here all afternoon."

"I assume you're talking about the stack of make-up work sitting on my dresser at home…" Nick noticed the way Blaine paused after he used that word and the look of discomfort that passed across his face.

"Have you used that word before to talk about Kurt's house?" Nick asked, curious. If it was the first time, Nick could understand his discomfort. It was a strange thing, thinking of somewhere other than the house you had grown up in as "home." He watched as the older boy shook his head, clearly still a little upset over that particular slip.

"Not consciously… maybe once or twice without thinking about it."

"It's not a big deal, you know," Nick commented. "It may feel like it, but you'll realize that it doesn't really matter where you call home. It's not you forgetting where you came from or anything like that. It's just accepting that some things have changed." He unlocked the doors of his car and got into the driver's seat, cranking the car as Blaine climbed into the passenger's seat.

"Then why does it feel so huge?"

"Because it's new. It's different," Nick replied. He backed out of the parking spot and started towards the road, keeping his mouth shut so that Blaine could think about everything they had talked about. He certainly had no intention of pushing Blaine to talk more. They were pretty far away from the church before Blaine said anything else.

"Do you think it would be wrong of me to go to my dad's house?" Nick raised an eyebrow, a little surprised at Blaine's question.

"I… I can't tell you what to do, Blaine. But do you really think it's a good idea to force the Andersons to have a relationship with you when they're opposed to the idea?"

"I don't care about my dad or his wife. I care about the fact that I have six half-siblings that I've never even met and that I know absolutely nothing about except for the fact that they're all blonde and perfect looking, just like a political family is supposed to be."

"And you want to be a part of that?" Nick asked, a little surprised that Blaine was willing to purposely be the odd man out. "You don't fit into the cookie-cutter family they're trying to make themselves appear to be, Blaine. You look like your mom. And do you even know where they stand on the idea of homosexuality?"

"I hadn't thought about that…"

"Maybe you should look into that. Because that's kind of a big part of who you are, and you're going to have to tell them if you do ever want to have them as part of your life." Nick took a sip of his soda as he drove, turning onto the road that would take them to Lima. "You came to Dalton from a school that was full of kids who refused to accept you for who you are – do you really want to risk putting yourself into a family that feels that way?"

"I'm sure they already know… I mean, my mother had to tell them something to convince my dad to pay for Dalton. I don't know why she wouldn't tell him the truth."

"But do you know for sure that she told them that you're gay?" Nick asked. He could see Blaine shrug out of the corner of his eye. "I'm just saying all of this because you really need to look into this before you make any kind of decision… they've been letting you down your entire life, and you shouldn't let them screw things up for you just because you're related to them, okay?"

"I don't get how you know so much. You're younger than I am…"

"I'm just looking at things from a different perspective than you are. Right now, you're letting your emotions get in the way. I'm not emotionally invested… I can see the things that you're missing because you're too close to the situation."

"I just want there to be a 'right' way to do everything…"

"You'll figure it out soon enough. There is a right way for you… but it's sort of a trial-and-error process to figure out what that way is. Just give yourself some time, okay? A month isn't long enough to have it all figured out, especially not when you've had so many other things happen and go wrong." Nick glanced to his right as he heard the slight thud of Blaine hitting something and realized that the older boy had let himself fall over so that his head had bumped against the window. "Are you okay? Really?"

"I'm just exhausted. Physically and emotionally. It's been a rough month…"

"There will always be rough patches. You just have to remind yourself that there's a light at the end of the tunnel – eventually you'll get to a place where you really are okay." Nick smiled slightly and adjusted the volume on the radio so that Blaine would be able to get some rest if he wanted to. "Don't feel like you have to stay awake and talk to me… I'll be fine with just the radio to keep me company."

"Thanks, Nick. If you were gay and I wasn't completely in love with Kurt…" Nick smiled slightly as Blaine admitted what pretty much all of the Warblers had suspected ever since the countertenor had transferred into Dalton.

"Don't worry about it."

* * *

The pile of makeup work only really seemed to diminish on the weekends. Not that Blaine really got a weekend, given the fact that he had all of that homework to do as well as the random trips out to Reynoldsburg they kept making to attempt to take care of his mother's house. They were slowly starting to make some progress – some of the things from Blaine's bedroom had been brought over to decorate the guest room that had become his, and a lot of his mother's personal possessions had been boxed up for one of the local churches to hand out. Slowly but surely, everything was getting taken care of.

"What do you want to do about the cars?" Blaine shook his head, sighing.

"I have no clue… I know I'm going to need mine back when I can drive again. But other than that I don't really know what to do." Blaine felt Burt put a hand on his shoulder.

"Why don't I take some of this stuff down to the church? It'll give you some time to think about what you want to do and to go through some of the other things we haven't gotten to yet." Blaine nodded and walked up the stairs, ducking into his former bedroom for a few minutes. It was a little strange being in there – after spending so much time at Kurt's house, this bedroom just didn't feel like home anymore. It was just strange.

"Need some help?" Blaine turned around at the sound of Kurt's voice coming from the doorway. "My dad just left to go to the church… I figured I would stay here with you. I'm not overly fond of churches, and I figured that you wouldn't want to be completely alone here."

"It doesn't feel right being here. I don't feel like I belong in this house anymore…" Blaine began, sighing. "I'm being ridiculous, right? It's stupid to get upset over the fact that I feel like this when I _know_ that I don't really belong here. I belong with people who care enough about me to take me in when I didn't have anywhere else to go and who put up with all of my insanity."

"It's not that you don't belong here, Blaine… it's probably just that you feel uncomfortable here because of all the memories. I didn't feel right being at my old house without my mom after she died. But that feeling went away, and when we sold the house after Dad and Carole got married it was actually _really_ hard to let go of it."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you're going to have to face that sooner or later… this house can't just sit empty indefinitely. It's going to be rough…"

"Just like everything else in my life right now," Blaine commented, sitting down in the desk chair. He closed his eyes and sighed. "I get it, things can't be easy. My life has to suck for a while…"

"Blaine…"

"I just… I don't think I can handle much more of this…" Blaine began, shaking his head and closing his eyes. He sighed as he felt Kurt wrap an arm around his shoulders. Blaine instinctively curled up next to Kurt, letting his right arm curl around the other boy's waist and pulling the two of them closer together. "I just want you… I want someone to hold onto."

"You can hold onto me for as long as you want… I'm not going anywhere." Blaine snuggled closer to Kurt, tightening his grip as well as he could. He felt safer there than he had in a long time, but it still wasn't enough. There was still something missing that he couldn't quite place.

It wasn't until he felt someone lifting him off the bed that Blaine even realized he'd fallen asleep. "'m awake…" he muttered, fighting to open his eyes.

"Just go back to sleep, kid. You need to get some rest." Blaine stopped fighting his heavy eyelids and fell back to sleep. He was in the car and buckled in next to Kurt the next time he knew anything. But considering the fact that Kurt and his father were talking, Blaine didn't bother to open his eyes. He wanted to know what they were talking about.

"I'm just worried about him… he's working so hard to catch up that I'm not completely sure he's sleeping at night. And I'm afraid he might be losing more weight…"

"It's rough for him right now… we just need to keep an eye on him and make sure that he's not self-destructing." Blaine sighed and faked a yawn, stretching slightly and pretending that he was just waking up.

"Hey sleepyhead…" Blaine sat up slightly and blinked, forcing a small smile as he looked up at Kurt. "Feeling better?"

"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have fallen asleep…" Blaine began.

"You needed the sleep. It's not a big deal."

"We were in the middle of a conversation… I shouldn't have fallen asleep on you like that."

"You needed a nap more than you needed a conversation. We can finish talking later," Kurt replied. Blaine smiled slightly as the boy squeezed his hand, letting his eyes close again. "Just lean against me and go back to sleep. It's still a pretty long drive home."

"I won't sleep tonight if I go back to sleep."

"Were you going to sleep anyway?" Kurt asked. Blaine's eyes popped open again and turned to face Kurt, a little surprised. "You're working too hard… I'm just worried that you're burning yourself out and you're going to mess up and make yourself really, really sick." Blaine nodded as Kurt spoke, choosing not to argue with the boy.

"I am sleeping."

"But are you getting enough sleep? Or are you just sleeping for a couple of hours so that you aren't lying when you tell us that you've slept?" Burt asked.

"Depends on the night," Blaine admitted. "Mostly the last one." He heard the man sigh.

"Thank you for being honest. But you do realize that has to stop, right? You need to be sleeping more than that, and if you don't get enough sleep you need to let someone know so that we can get you whatever kind of help you need. You can't run on no sleep indefinitely. Understand?" Burt asked.

"Okay…" Blaine began.

"You aren't in trouble or anything like that… but you will be if you don't let us know when you need our help, understand?"

"Okay." Blaine turned to Kurt as he felt the boy snake an arm around his waist and pull him close again. "I… I just…" Blaine shook his head and sighed.

"You don't have to explain yourself, kid. Just keep us in the loop. Don't let things get out of hand before you ask for help."

"I won't."

* * *

The one good thing about what was happening with Blaine's life was that Carole and Burt didn't say anything to him or Kurt about the fact that Blaine kept going into Kurt's room at night to sleep.

"He's actually sleeping. And I trust Kurt not to take advantage of him or to let himself be taken advantage of. For now, we let them share a bed… in a few weeks we'll talk to them, when things have settled down some more."

"Would we let Finn have a girlfriend in his bed?" Carole asked. She smiled slightly as Burt sighed. "I'm just trying to point out the way this is going to look to Finn… it isn't going to seem fair to him."

"So what do you think we should do?"

"I don't know what to do any more than you do, Burt." Blaine felt the tears stinging his eyes as he listened in on the conversation from his hidden spot just outside the kitchen. He'd sort of gotten into the habit of eavesdropping on any conversation Kurt's parents had that involved him.

"Do about what?" Blaine was a little surprised to hear Finn's voice from the kitchen; somehow the boy had gotten into the room without seeing Blaine or vice versa. "If you're talking about the fact that Blaine and Kurt are sleeping in the same room, it's not that big of a deal. I think Blaine needs him right now."

"So you're okay with what's going on?" Carole asked. Blaine bit down on his bottom lip, not sure that he wanted to hear what Finn had to say on the subject.

"It's not like they're doing it. They're _just_ sleeping together – trust me, I would hear everything that went on if they did decide to do something…"

"Thanks for the clarification, Finn. That's about all I want to know on the subject," Burt replied. Blaine glanced up as he saw a pair of skinny jean-clad knees in his peripheral vision.

"Eavesdropping again?" Kurt asked, smiling down at him.

"I just want to know what they're saying about me… I don't like being out of the loop."

"You could always just ask," Kurt replied, sitting down next to him. Blaine sighed.

"They're talking about the fact that we're sharing a bed…"

"I'm guessing from the look on your face that they want that to stop…" Kurt began.

"That actually wasn't what just got said. But I think that maybe we should stop. I didn't think about how it looked or what Finn might think if he knew what was going on… and it really isn't fair to him."

"It's up to you, Blaine. But until Dad and Carole say to stop or you decide you don't need it any more, my bedroom door will stay unlocked and I'll have room in my bed for you. As long as you want and need it." Blaine smiled slightly as Kurt put an arm around his shoulders. "Come on… let's go get something to eat for breakfast, and then we should get to work on homework."

"I wish I could afford to just take a day off… not do any of the schoolwork that's piling up. It takes too long to catch up at Dalton…"

"You'll catch up… you're already getting there…" Kurt began.

"It's getting close to the end of the semester," Blaine replied.

"And you're going to get some extra time to catch up again because of everything that's happened… that's already been decided. Dad and Carole talked to the school, remember?"

"It doesn't really make me feel any better… I shouldn't have let myself get so far behind that I would _need_ to be given extra time to finish everything. That was my fault."

"That wasn't anyone's fault, Blaine. You weren't in a good place… Nick has the scars to show exactly what can happen if you don't take care of yourself after something like that," Kurt replied. Blaine closed his eyes and let his head rest against Kurt's shoulder. "Don't blame yourself for any of this, okay? You needed some time to work through part of what was going on in your head before you went back to school."

"Do you think I'm going crazy?" Blaine could feel the taller boy moving, although he didn't see what Kurt's exact expression was.

"I think you're having a hard time. Which is a very different thing from being crazy…"

"Do you think I should talk to someone? Like a professional…"

"Blaine, look at me." Blaine did as he was told, leaning back and looking into Kurt's eyes. "I just want you to be okay. And if you think that might help you deal with all of this, then I think you should do it. But don't do it just because I think you should, okay? Do it because you think you need someone else to talk to who can help you get through all of this." Blaine found Kurt's hand with his own and squeezed it gently, sighing.

"I don't really know _what_ I need anymore. I feel like every decision I make is a wrong one… like I can't keep it all straight anymore in my head. It's frustrating…"

"Someday you'll realize that no one really knows what they need… " Blaine looked up, realizing that Burt had come out of the kitchen and was now standing in front of them. "But if you want to try talking to someone else, then Carole and I can figure out how to go about doing that. But only if that's what you want…" Blaine nodded, knowing that his gaze had turned into a glassy stare.

"I'll think about it."

"All you have to do is ask, sweetie," Carole commented, walking up behind Burt and putting a hand on the man's shoulder. "And you can take all the time you need to think… just don't wait until it's too late, sweetie. If you really do need to talk to someone, just make sure you come to us before it gets too bad. We're here for you."

Blaine bit down on his bottom lip, fighting back the tears that were threatening to fall. He didn't understand the emotions he was feeling; it was confusing for Blaine to suddenly feel so loved, when he'd spent the past several days feeling as though no one really cared about him. It was just more proof that his father's family and that whole relationship had really screwed with his head. "Are you okay?" Blaine felt Kurt squeeze his hand and shook his head, closing his eyes and pulling his hand away from Kurt's so that he could wipe away the tears that were starting to trickle down his face.

"I don't… I don't know what to do…" Blaine couldn't stop the tears, and he was thankful when Kurt pulled him closer and started rubbing gentle circles on his back, trying to calm him down.

"Hey… it's okay… you don't have to know what to do." Blaine shook his head, struggling out of Kurt's grasp and to his feet in a sudden urge to get away from all of them. "Blaine…"

"I just… I need a minute. I need to be alone." Blaine hurried up the stairs, shutting the door behind him as he walked into his bedroom. He knew better than to run off again after what had happened before. And given the fact that Kurt's house finally felt like home, Blaine didn't feel the need to run away from everyone the way he had in the past. He sank down onto the bed, trying to process the waves of emotion that kept coming. He was so confused about the feelings that came along with the realization that Kurt's parents weren't just taking care of him because they felt obligated to do so. They were doing it because for whatever reason they actually _cared_ about him and his well-being. Blaine's own father didn't seem to give a rip about him, but these people who had absolutely no reason to take care of him were being so amazingly kind to him.

Blaine curled up into a ball on the bed, still trying to sort through everything that was running through his head. He'd never thought that being loved could be so… complicated. He'd never thought that his life would become this complicated, even with his mother being ill and his father being out of the picture. And yet here he was, trying to wrap his head around everything and failing miserably to work out the tangled web that his life had turned into. The tears didn't stop flowing as he sat there and thought through things. There was really only one thing Blaine wanted to do.

"Please, Mom… I just need to know what I should do. I can't deal with all of this… it's too much. How am I supposed to deal with all of this?" Blaine knew he wouldn't get an answer, but he didn't really care. Even just the thought of being able to talk to his mother again was comforting. And that comfort was what Blaine needed the most at that moment.


	9. Getting There

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Glee or any of these characters… if I did, Karofsky wouldn't exist anymore, Jesse wouldn't have been such an asshole (albeit one I believe legitimately fell for Rachel), and there would be a LOT more Blaine.

**A/n: This chapter came surprisingly fast… it's a little easier to write some happy!Blaine after so much sadness. It is slightly short – the very last scene felt like I was pulling teeth a bit, and I didn't want to fight it that much any more. So here it is!**

Blaine sighed and closed his eyes as Carole drove him back to Dalton from his second doctor's appointment of the day. His arm was still in a cast, but he could at least move his elbow now for the first time in a month. The fiberglass cast hadn't even completely dried before he'd been hurried off to a psychiatrist's office for a consultation that had ended with Carole being handed several different prescriptions for Blaine and instructions that someone needed to keep an eye on him for a few weeks. Blaine wasn't sure that was entirely necessary – after all, he had a feeling Kurt would probably research everything as soon as he saw the bottles and go well beyond what was necessary.

And Kurt was certainly going to see them. One of the first things that had happened when the boys had moved to Dalton was Blaine requesting to have a roommate for the first time in his career at the boarding school. Given the fact that Kurt had been the only person in a double room without a roommate, they had ended up together. Which worked out well, since Blaine had taken to cuddling with Kurt whenever he couldn't sleep.

"We'll drop these off at the pharmacy, and then why don't we pick up Kurt and go get some dinner?" Carole asked.

"I still have a lot of homework to catch up on…"

"We can make it quick. I'm sure there's something fast that would still be better than the cafeteria food at Dalton…" Blaine shrugged, watching the scenery they drove past. He wasn't all that interested in going out to eat, although he knew that Carole and Kurt wouldn't take no for an answer. They would want to make sure that he ate. And given the fact that Blaine had been forced to go down a couple of holes in his belt because of how much weight he'd lost, he knew that they had good reason. "If you're too tired, we can always go out to eat some other time…"

"No, it's okay… I'll go."

The remainder of the car ride was silent, with Blaine closing his eyes and nearly drifting off to sleep before they turned into the school's visitor parking lot after a quick side trip to the pharmacy to drop off the prescriptions. Kurt was waiting on the front steps for them, and as soon as the vehicle came to a stop he was sliding into the back seat.

"How did it go?" Blaine sighed and shook his head.

"It went." Blaine felt Kurt's hand gently squeezing his shoulder.

"Kurt, don't let me forget to stop by the pharmacy on the way back," Carole said. Blaine could feel Kurt's hand tighten down on his shoulder again, a signal to Blaine that Kurt understood exactly what Carole had implied. "We can talk about everything later… right now, let's just go find something to eat."

The meal was pretty much silent; Kurt and Carole occasionally tried to start up a conversation, but Blaine only gave short answers and focused mostly on forcing down enough of his meal to keep everyone happy. He missed most of the looks of concern that the other two people at the table occasionally gave him as well, with his eyes staying fixed to his plate most of the time. They didn't stay at the restaurant any longer than was necessary because Carole knew both of the boys had homework to do.

Blaine didn't think twice about crawling in the back seat next to Kurt for the drive back to Dalton, or about letting his head rest on his friend's shoulder. And it seemed as though Kurt didn't really think much about it either, especially as the taller boy moved to hold Blaine's hand for the ride, or at least find the closest possible approximation to that given the fact that Blaine's hand was still encased in a cast.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Kurt asked softly. Blaine shook his head against the other boy's shoulder and sighed.

"I spent an hour earlier talking about it. I'd rather not relive that right now." Blaine smiled slightly as Kurt put an arm around his shoulders and gave him a hug.

"Okay. Maybe later, if you want to." Blaine nodded against his friend's shoulder and sighed, moving a little closer to the boy.

Blaine managed to fall asleep again without even realizing it until Kurt was gently nudging him to wake up. "Huh?"

"We're back at school, and Carole needs to head back to Lima." Blaine sat up and unbuckled his seatbelt, following Kurt out of the car. He forced a smile as Carole passed him the pharmacy bag containing his medication.

"Alright, boys… I'll see you this weekend, okay?" Blaine was only a little surprised when the woman wrapped him in a hug as well before she turned back to the car. "Don't work too hard."

"Bye Carole." The two boys made their way back into the dormitory side of the building and up the stairs to their room. Blaine carefully pulled the bottles out of the plastic bag and set them on his desk, glancing over the instructions that were written on the bottles.

"When are you going to start taking the medication?" Blaine shrugged in response to Kurt's question.

"Tomorrow. Or tonight, I guess… one of them is supposed to help me sleep." Blaine sat down at his desk and flipped open one of his textbooks at random and started in on the first assignment he found that he still had to do.

"Well, you can still share with me if you'd like… I really don't mind."

"Thanks… I'm going to try sleeping in my own bed tonight, though. I have a feeling that eventually your parents are going to not be okay with the two of us sharing a bed at night," Blaine replied. He got to work, breezing through the easier parts of the assignments before tackling the more difficult sections of all of his homework.

"It's getting close to curfew… if you want to shower tonight, you'd better hurry."

Blaine glanced up from his work a couple of hours later, looking straight at the clock and realizing that Kurt was right. He sighed, realizing he hadn't gotten nearly as much done as he'd planned thanks to the side trip to get dinner with Kurt and Carole.

Twenty minutes later Blaine was standing next to his desk, staring down at the pill bottle he held in one hand and the small white pill he had in the other. Finally, he tossed the pill in his mouth and took a sip of water to wash it down. "Night, Kurt."

* * *

Kurt wasn't all that surprised when he woke up to find Blaine cuddling up to him when his alarm went off the next morning. He vaguely remembered the curly-haired boy getting up and wandering around the room a bit during the night, and Kurt assumed that Blaine had climbed into bed with him because the medication that was supposed to help him sleep hadn't worked all that well. It wasn't until he saw the look of confusion that crossed Blaine's face as the older boy woke up that Kurt realized that probably wasn't the case.

"Didn't I fall asleep in my bed last night?" Blaine seemed a little worried about the fact that he didn't remember getting out of his bed and falling back to sleep in Kurt's bed.

"You were wandering around in the middle of the night some… I thought you were having trouble sleeping," Kurt replied.

"I don't remember much of anything after I fell asleep last night." Kurt smiled at Blaine as the boy sighed. "I guess that probably means this stuff isn't going to work out…"

"Give it another night or two… maybe this is just a fluke."

"I'm pretty sure that sleepwalking is one of those bad side effects I'm supposed to be worried about," Blaine commented. Kurt got out of bed and moved over to pick up the package inserts from the pharmacy and read over them. "Kurt…"

"I just want to check out what it says… that's okay, right?" He watched as Blaine sighed and nodded, getting out of the bed and walking over to the desk. Kurt watched as he shuffled through some of the paperwork from the pharmacy bag and pulled out a specific piece of paper, passing it to Kurt.

"That's the one you're looking for. Feel free to look at the others too… the doctor said something about someone needing to keep an eye on me for a little while because of the potential side effects."

"Yeah, Carole told me. While you were asleep in the car last night." Kurt glanced over the insert for anything that would tell him that he needed to watch for certain symptoms or side effects that would indicate that there was some kind of problem.

"How much did she tell you?" Blaine asked, leaning against the desk and crossing his arms.

"That the doctor said you're having a really rough time right now, and that he thinks you might need some help because it's interfering with your ability to take care of yourself." Blaine nodded and sighed.

"We should get ready for class… I don't want to be late." Kurt sighed as Blaine hurried out to the bathroom, leaving Kurt alone to get ready for the day.

Kurt was already dressed and working on his hair by the time Blaine came back into their dorm room, already dressed and nearly ready to go down to the cafeteria for breakfast. Kurt hurried through the remainder of his morning routine while Blaine stared down the pill bottles as he got together his things for classes.

"I don't think that staring at the bottles is going to help you very much…" Kurt commented, picking up his messenger bag and walking over to the other boy. "You going to actually take them today?" Kurt put a hand on Blaine's shoulder as the older boy shrugged.

"I guess I should… they can't work if I don't." Kurt smiled at Blaine as the boy picked up a couple of the bottles and pulled out the little pills he needed to take. "We should go to breakfast. I think it says I'm supposed to take these with food or something…"

"Maybe you should read the package inserts before you take any of them… if you don't know what they might do to you…"

"I don't have time, Kurt. And I'm just so ready to feel normal again… I just want to do this so that I can get as much of my life back as possible," Blaine replied. Kurt sighed and wrapped an arm around Blaine, pulling him into a hug.

"You're going to be okay. And I'm going to be here for you, for as long as you need me."

"Funny how things have been reversed…"

"What do you mean?" Kurt asked, a little confused.

"When we first met, everything was the opposite… you were the one that needed someone to talk to who understood what you were going through. Now I need you and your parents…" Kurt smiled as Blaine pulled him closer for a moment and leaned his head against Kurt's shoulder. "Thank you. I don't know what I would have done without all of you…"

"You would have survived and figured things out. You have a lot of other friends that love you, too, who wanted to be there for you just as much as I did." Kurt pulled away from Blaine and took the older boy's hand. "Let's go get some food so you can take your meds. It'll help you feel better."

* * *

Blaine was surprised at how quickly things seemed to be turning around. The meds took time to hit their full effect, but even after just a couple of days Blaine was feeling a difference. He was still hurting – nothing fully took away the fact that his mother was gone – but he didn't feel like his entire world had collapsed anymore.

"Alright, gentlemen, settle down. We have a few visitors with us today, and I expect you to all behave yourselves as you normally do." Blaine glanced up from the book he had been reading to see what was going on, only to be faced with the image of three teenaged boys with perfect blonde hair and his father standing at the front of the room. "Why don't you gentlemen take a seat? There are some empty seats at the back of the room."

Blaine immediately buried his head in his book again as the four of them moved towards him. He was pretty sure that Wes and David noticed what was going on, especially given the way David leaned forward and gently squeezed his shoulder. But he didn't respond, choosing to ignore everything other than what his teacher was saying and what he needed to get out of the period. The class passed surprisingly quickly, and Blaine hurried to turn in the makeup work he'd finished and get the heck out of there so that he could find Kurt. He didn't want to have anything to do with his father, but of course that couldn't work out.

"Blaine, why don't you, Wes, and David show Mr. Anderson and his sons to the cafeteria?" Blaine nodded and forced a smile at his teacher's suggestion.

"We actually have a Warblers meeting during lunch today, Mr. Clements," Wes replied, smiling at the man. Blaine wasn't all that surprised at how easily his friend lied to their teacher, but he was definitely grateful for the fact that his friends understood the fact that he wanted nothing to do with his father at the moment.

"It would really only take a minute…"

"I'm really sorry Mr. Clements, but it's a very important meeting. We have to plan for the upperclassmen auditions and elect a new council in the next two weeks. We're actually going to be late if we don't hurry." Blaine followed the lead of the other two boys and hurried out of the classroom and down towards the Warblers common room, just in case Mr. Clements was paying attention.

"Thanks, guys…" Blaine began.

"No problem. Just be glad that Mr. Clements doesn't know all of those things are council functions and that you aren't actually involved in any of it," Wes replied. The boys hung around outside the common room for a few minutes before they decided to take the long way down to the cafeteria for lunch.

"I was starting to get worried… where have you guys been?" Kurt asked as they finally sat down at their usual table by the windows.

"Mr. Clements wanted us to bring some visitors down here, and we had to lie to get out of it," David replied.

"It was my dad. And I'm assuming my half-brothers," Blaine added. He reached out and took Kurt's hand as the boy turned around to see if he could find the familiar face that was sitting somewhere in the cafeteria with his sons. "Kurt… it's not important."

"I just want to see what they look like… you're the only one who's seen a picture of any of them." Blaine sighed and went back to eating his lunch, doing his best to ignore the fact that Kurt was still trying to figure out where his father's family was at that moment. "Oh Gaga… they look like clones…" Blaine couldn't help the laughter that escaped him at Kurt's comment.

"It'll be worse if they're all dressed in Dalton uniforms next year," Blaine replied.

"Do you really think your dad would do that? I mean, isn't this the same guy who basically told you that you aren't allowed to know your siblings until you're eighteen?" Wes asked.

"I don't know what he would or wouldn't do… I've only spoken to him once or twice. I don't understand anything about him." The boys all quieted down for a few minutes as they ate their lunches. Blaine silently wondered at what his father was doing at Dalton, given the fact that he hadn't received any kind of message from the man since they'd exchanged phone numbers at Regionals… and it had been over a month.

"Blaine Anderson?" Blaine glanced up from his food at the sound of his name. He was surprised to see the headmaster's secretary standing behind Kurt, accompanied by the blond clones. Blaine was a little surprised that his father was nowhere to be found. "Mr. McCormick wanted you to give Samuel and his brothers a tour of the campus during your free period."

"I actually still have some makeup work to do, Ms. Fletcher…"

"Their father specifically requested a Warbler, and you're the only one without a class next period. You still have some time to finish all of that work, and from what I've heard you're nearly done catching up. I'm sure you could use a break from all of that studying. Blaine glanced at Kurt as the boy nudged him in the ribs, giving him a look that told him he should take advantage of the chance to spend time with these boys – his half-brothers.

"I guess you're right. I'll take care of it, Ms. Fletcher." Blaine ignored the woman's self-satisfied smirk, sighing and picking up his nearly empty tray with his good hand. "I'll see you guys later… gotta go be a tour guide." Blaine rolled his eyes as Kurt took the uneaten apple off his tray and put it into Blaine's broken hand.

"Don't give me that look… just eat it."

"As you are neither my mother nor my boyfriend, I do not believe that you have the authority to tell me what to do," Blaine replied with a smile.

"Yet."

"We'll talk about that later," Blaine replied. He hurried over to the trash cans and got rid of everything but the apple, before he walked back to the table for his messenger bag. "Alright, guys… obviously you've seen the cafeteria already. And I think you saw some of the classrooms… any questions so far?"

"Honestly, Blaine, we really don't care," the oldest of the three said, crossing his arms. Blaine raised an eyebrow. "We don't know why our father is insisting on touring this school… we've been going to the same private school in Cleveland for years, and I don't see why that should change just because our older brother and sister graduated last year."

The more the boy talked, the less Blaine liked him. Blaine didn't like the condescending tone, or the look of disgust that the guy seemed to have about everything that was going on.

"Why would we want to go to a gay school anyway?" the youngest one asked.

"Dylan, why do you always have to ask stupid questions?" the middle son asked. Blaine watched as Dylan stuck a tongue out at his older brother.

"Dylan, Jacob, why don't you both stop… it doesn't matter, this is just another school Dad's threatening us with to make you two behave. It's not like we're actually going to be coming here in the fall unless the two of you keep screwing things up," the oldest son – who Blaine assumed must be Samuel – commented. "I apologize for my brothers… they haven't exactly mastered the art of behaving properly in public."

"It's okay. But Dalton isn't a gay school… we do have more gay students than most schools, but that's because bullying isn't tolerated," Blaine replied. "This is a place of acceptance. Whether you agree with someone's beliefs or lifestyle doesn't matter… we all respect each other and our right to be individuals."

"So, I'm guessing that you're gay?" Jacob asked. Blaine nodded at the question.

"I am, yeah. I was the one of two out kids at my old school… we went to a dance together, and a group of guys beat the shit out of us for it. My mom kind of freaked out, and she brought me to enroll here as soon as I was cleared to go back to school," Blaine explained. "A lot of the other guys have similar stories."

"Yeah, I'm sure…" Samuel replied. "Did they…" Blaine glanced down as Samuel motioned towards the cast on his arm.

"No… I fell down the stairs at home a few weeks ago. I was sleepwalking." Blaine sighed. "We should probably make it look like I'm actually giving you a tour like I'm supposed to," he said, starting down the hall again. "The common rooms are pretty much empty during classes, unless there are people with a free period. Each year has one, but no one really cares which one you hang out in as long as you don't go into the Warbler's room… you wouldn't be able to get any work done, anyway. We're too loud."

Blaine led the boys up the spiral staircase. "There are some more classrooms to the left at the top of the staircase, and the entrance to the dorms is to the right. The first floor and most of the second are classrooms and stuff related directly to school, and the dorms are mostly the third floor, with a few upperclassmen who have single rooms on the second."

"Do you have a roommate?" Samuel asked.

"Yeah, Kurt. He's the guy who gave me the apple," Blaine replied, holding up the piece of fruit that he still hadn't started to eat.

"Does he always act like your mother?"

"Whenever he can get away with it. Which is most of the time," Blaine replied. "He means well… but he can be a little over the top at times."

"So you two are…?"

"Best friends," Blaine replied, leading the boys towards the dorm end of the floor and up another flight of stairs to the third floor. "This is our room… we got lucky and ended up with one of two doubles that has its own bathroom." Blaine leaned against his desk, carefully covering the orange pill bottles with his body as his half-brothers glanced around the room.

"How did you manage that?" Samuel asked.

"Kurt transferred in late, and I was downstairs in a single until just recently. These rooms usually aren't filled unless there are more boarders than normal. Most of the guys here are day students," Blaine replied.

Blaine watched in silence as his brothers looked around for a moment, smiling slightly as Samuel smacked Dylan across the back of the head for snickering at Kurt's collection of Vogues. Jacob seemed to be the most reserved of the three, silently looking around and examining everything. "So, do you have any siblings?" Jacob finally asked, leaning against the desk next to Blaine.

"No… well, not really. My dad has some other kids, but we're not in contact. It's complicated."

"Isn't everything?" Blaine raised an eyebrow at Jacob's comment, but he didn't get a chance to ask any questions as Samuel started pulling Dylan towards the door.

"I think it's time for us to go somewhere else… I just caught the little klepto digging through a drawer. I don't think he took anything, but it's better not to tempt him any more."

"Maybe we should go down to the grounds… there's always a lot going on. And there usually isn't anything available to steal. Although God help you if you took something of Kurt's, because he scares me more than my mother ever did…"

Blaine led the boys back out of the dorm area and down the stairs towards the main entrance, but they were stopped by their father. "Come on, boys… we need to get back to Cleveland."

"Blaine was just going to show us the grounds…" Jacob began.

"I think we'll see enough of them on the way out. Your mother is expecting us home early, anyway." Blaine shoved his hands into his pockets as well as he could, waiting to see what was going to happen.

"It was nice to meet you guys. Maybe I'll see you here next year." Blaine glanced at his father, wondering how the man was going to respond to his comment.

"Maybe."

* * *

Blaine smiled as he felt two hands gently starting to knead the muscles in his shoulders. "You aren't working too hard, are you?"

"No… just trying to get the bare minimum done. It's a nice day. I sort of want to go outside for a while before it gets dark out," Blaine replied, turning so that he could look at Kurt. "But can we talk about something?" The deer-in-the-headlights look Kurt gave him made Blaine smile slightly and shake his head. "It's not bad, I promise."

"You're not having problems with your meds?"

"No, Kurt… that isn't even remotely related to what I want to talk about." Blaine turned all the way around and took Kurt's hand, pulling him closer until the taller boy was pretty much forced to sit down on his lap.

"Blaine…"

"What did you mean earlier when you said that we weren't together _yet_?" Blaine let his arm wrap around Kurt's waist. "Do you… are we ready for that next step?" Blaine watched Kurt's face carefully, hoping that the boy would react well to what he was trying to say.

"It's more a question of whether or not you're ready… I don't want to push you into something you aren't ready for." Blaine nodded, staring off into the distance for a moment.

"I'm still not in the best place, Kurt… but I know that this isn't something that I want because I'm hurting. I was really confused before all of this happened, and I think it made things clear for me." Blaine pulled Kurt a little closer as he spoke. "I feel like I'm _supposed_ to be with you – like this is _right_. Like you were put into my life for a reason."

"I don't believe in fate…"

"Then just believe in love. Because you clearly understand that… I don't see how you could not believe in love."

"Blaine…"

"You can't deny that we love each other… even if it's just as friends."

"You know it's more than that, Blaine. I do love you. Hell, I'm in love with you."

"Then let's stop fighting this. Let's just make the next step and say that we're dating. Everyone thinks we are, anyway…"

"Only if you're sure that you're ready."

"I'm never going to be any closer to being ready than I am right now. I feel like I need this in my life. And I know that I need you in my life… I wouldn't have made it this far without you." Blaine leaned in to press a kiss against Kurt's cheek, but he was surprised when the boy turned his face so that their lips touched instead. It felt right, and Blaine couldn't help himself as he went in for another kiss.

"We need to stop." Blaine opened his eyes and pulled back as Kurt leaned away from him. "We have to take things slow. I don't want to screw things up between us by going too fast."

"Okay," Blaine replied, nodding. He knew that Kurt was right – if they rushed things, they would just end up getting hurt. "But we can at least tell everyone that we're together, right? That's the big thing I want right now…"

"I wouldn't even mind if you shouted it from the rooftops right now. As long as you're happy."

"This is the happiest I've been in a long, long time." Blaine smiled, because it was the truth. Blaine was happy.


	10. Complications

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Glee or any of these characters… if I did, Karofsky wouldn't exist anymore, Jesse wouldn't have been such an asshole (albeit one I believe legitimately fell for Rachel), and there would be a LOT more Blaine.

**A/n: So it's definitely 3:30 AM right now, and I'm finishing up this story. I leave in about 5 hours to go on vacation. And I can NOT go to sleep, and I don't know why. :/**

**Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the chapter. I'm really trying to wrap this one up, but I have one last twist that I want to throw into things before I end it…**

It was becoming easier for Blaine to get himself to the church for group sessions, and it felt a lot less like pulling teeth trying to get himself to talk. He still didn't necessarily want to tell the other members of the group everything that was going on; there were some things that Blaine just didn't want to talk about with anyone.

"Blaine? You seem to be doing better… how is everything going?"

"It's getting easier. The medication helps… I'd rather not take it, but I'm not sure how I'd be getting through all of this without it. I… I sort of wish I'd gone to the doctor sooner, not put myself through all of that. But then I feel like I'm weak for even beginning to think that I should have given up fighting it sooner. And then I feel like I've failed because I had to resort to medication to get to this point…"

"That isn't a failure. Refusing medication because you don't want to feel weak, even if you really need that help… that's failing. Causing other people pain so that you don't have to admit that you've been given more than you can handle… that's failing. Refusing to accept help, even when you know that you can't deal with it on your own…" Blaine glanced at Nick as the other boy's voice started to crack. "You're doing what you need to do to keep your sanity, to survive. That's not a failure."

"It's still hard to say that it feels right to be on all of this medication. I don't… I don't always feel like myself," Blaine commented.

"Who you are has changed. It _has_ to change to deal with things like this. If you went back to being the exact same person you were before your mother's death, you wouldn't be able to get over it. You would be living a lie, and that wouldn't be healthy." Blaine looked down at the floor as the group's leader spoke, nodding at her words. "If it worries you, Blaine, you need to go to your doctor and talk to him about how the medications make you feel."

"I know. I don't think it's anything that serious… I just still want my life to go back to normal. I still want things to be the way they were before. I think that's what I'm having the hardest time dealing with." _That and my father's fucking inability to decide whether he wants me in his life or not_, Blaine added in his head.

He hadn't brought up his brothers visiting Dalton during group, nor had he mentioned that his father had sent him several messages since then or that Jacob had found Blaine on Facebook. The boy didn't seem to find it at all odd that they shared a last name. What surprised Blaine, though, was that Jacob seemed more than willing to open up to him about pretty much everything. Including the fact that Jacob was questioning his own sexuality.

"It is hard. I think we've all been there at one point or another." Blaine sighed, nodding. "Alright, guys, our hour is up. I'll see you all next Friday."

Blaine stood up and grabbed his messenger bag, moving over towards Nick. "You okay?" he asked, putting a hand on the other boy's shoulder.

"I'm fine. Worry about yourself, okay?" Blaine nodded, smiling at Nick.

"I'll see you Monday, man."

Blaine walked out to his car, ready to go back to Lima. He and Kurt had been spending weekends with Kurt's parents, although Blaine suspected that Burt and Carole were insisting that Kurt bring him home so that they could continue to keep an eye on him. Blaine was about to call Kurt and tell him that he was on the way when his phone rang, signaling a text message.

_From: Jacob_

_Can we talk? I think I have something I need to tell my parents._

Blaine glanced at the message, wondering whether or not he should respond. After a moment, he decided that the best thing to do would be to call Jacob back.

The phone only rang once before Jacob picked up. "Hello?"

"You said you needed to talk?"

"Hey Blaine."

Blaine waited silently for a moment, wondering if Jacob was going to start the conversation or if he would have to pull it out of him. Eventually, Blaine realized that Jacob wasn't going to make this easy, whatever it was. "So, what was it you needed to talk to me about?"

"I… I have a confession to make. I think… I think I might be…" Blaine waited a few moments in silence, until he realized what was going on.

"Jake… are you trying to come out?" Blaine could hear the boy sighing on the other end of the line. "Hey, I'm not going to judge. I'm gay, Jacob…"

"Why don't you have a relationship with your dad or your half-brothers?" Blaine was a little blindsided by the question. He sighed and shook his head, trying to think of an answer.

"I don't even understand it myself, Jacob. I really don't understand his attempts to explain it to me, either."

"So it's not because you're gay."

"My dad doesn't even know. I think he just assumes that I'm normal and that he doesn't have anything to worry about. I don't even know how he and his wife feel about homosexuality…"

"You mean his new wife?" Jacob asked.

"My parents weren't ever married," Blaine replied. "My dad cut out when I was a baby. Until a couple of weeks ago, I'd never seen or spoken to him. All… all he had were excuses for why he couldn't be in my life and why I wasn't welcome in his." Blaine did feel a little bad for telling Jacob so many bad things about their father, especially since Jacob didn't know that was who they were talking about. It wasn't very fair to talk crap about a man who couldn't defend himself, but at the same time Blaine didn't feel as if he owed the man anything. After all, he was dangling Blaine's brothers in front of his face, all the while telling him that Blaine couldn't have a relationship with any of them.

"I'm not sure how my parents will react. My mom's a Democrat, but it's one thing to accept other people who are gay. It's completely different to have a gay son." Blaine sighed, closing his eyes.

"Unfortunately, the only way you're ever going to know is to tell them. You can't predict how people will react to that kind of news, no matter how well you think you know them."

"So I should just suck it up and tell them?"

"I don't know what to tell you, Jacob. You have to make that decision for yourself. Don't feel like you have to come out of the closet just because you've figured things out, okay? You don't have to do this until you're ready." Blaine heard his phone beep, signaling that he had another call. He had a feeling that it was Kurt. But Kurt could wait a minute.

"Thanks, Blaine. I appreciate the advice."

"I should go… I think the Hummels just called wondering why I haven't called to tell them I'm on my way home yet. I'll talk to you later."

"Later." Blaine glanced at his phone screen as he hung up, a little confused about why Jacob had chosen to call him, of all the people in his life. Surely Blaine wasn't the only gay guy Jacob knew.

Blaine was starting to wonder exactly what kind of mess his father was creating with all of the secrecy.

* * *

"Shit…" Blaine muttered, digging through his bag frantically.

"Something wrong, dude?" Blaine looked up at Finn, who was standing in the doorway with one of his friends. The two boys had obviously been on their way to Finn's room, presumably to play video games. Blaine shook his head quickly, not wanting to freak Finn out about what he had just discovered.

"Nothing… I just left something at school. It… it was kind of important…" Blaine reached up and ran a hand through his hair, trying to remember what he'd done with the pill bottles before he'd left that afternoon.

"I'm sure that whatever it is, you'll be okay without it over the weekend. And if it's like, your toothbrush or something, we have extra of pretty much everything. Just ask Kurt." Blaine forced a smile.

"It's not exactly something you would keep lying around the house. But thanks." Blaine sat down on the bed, trying to figure out what he was going to do without his medication for two days. The sleeping pills weren't that big of a deal; Blaine had stopped taking them every night the week before, and it was actually starting to get easier to fall asleep without them. But the other medications – the pills for anxiety and depression – weren't things that he could really do without. He was supposed to take them every day, and he'd been doing pretty well at keeping up with them. But now he'd screwed up, and he would have to be without them until he could get back to campus.

It took Blaine a moment to figure out what he needed to do. Driving all the way back to Dalton wasn't the best option, but it seemed like the only thing he could do at this point. Blaine sighed and started packing his things back up. He felt oddly ashamed, like he should have known better than to forget the medication at school, and he didn't particularly want to tell Kurt's parents what had happened. But Blaine knew that it wouldn't be a good idea to leave without telling them what was going on.

Blaine picked up his bag and walked down the stairs, wandering into the kitchen. "Something wrong, kid?" Blaine hadn't expected to find Burt sitting at the table.

"I… I was going to go back to Dalton. I forgot… I left the pills in my dorm…"

"Go back upstairs and put your bag up. We'll figure something out… it's too late for you to drive now, anyway."

"I'm not supposed to skip pills…" Blaine began.

"I know. But it's too late tonight. In the morning, you can drive back to school. I think the consequences of forgetting one or two doses of medication aren't nearly as serious as the consequences of falling asleep at the wheel."

"What if you're wrong?" Blaine asked, purposely avoiding looking the man in the eye.

"Then we'll deal with that if it comes up. Don't worry about all of this for now… just go upstairs and work on some homework or hang out with Kurt or something like that. You'll be fine." Blaine nodded and sighed, doing what he was told. He wasn't exactly scared of Burt, but Blaine didn't want to get on the man's bad side, either. Especially not now that he was not only living in the man's house but also dating his son.

"Blaine? What are you doing?" Blaine glanced up as Kurt stepped out of his room, just as Blaine reached the top of the stairs.

"I was just going back to my room…"

"Were you going somewhere?" Blaine could see the raised eyebrow and knew that Kurt was worried about what Blaine might have been thinking about doing.

"I was thinking about going back to Dalton… I forgot my meds. Your dad talked me out of it," Blaine replied. He walked into his room, not bothering to shut the door. He knew that Kurt would probably follow him so that they could talk.

"I think you probably forgot an important part of that plan… you don't have a car here this weekend." Blaine couldn't help but laugh as he realized that Kurt was right.

"I did sort of forget about that part…" Blaine dropped his bag and sighed before he collapsed across his bed. "I don't always think things through very well, do I?"

"Not when you're upset," Kurt replied. Blaine nodded, knowing that the other boy was right about that. The decision to drive home from the hospital after his mother's death, even though it was two o'clock in the morning, had definitely not been one of his finer moments. In all honesty, now that he thought about it Blaine realized that he tended to make some of his stupidest decisions when he was upset over something.

"I guess you're right about that…"

"It's probably a good thing you have people to keep reminding you that your plans might be stupid, then." Blaine smiled as Kurt sat down on the bed next to him and took his hand. Blaine rolled over onto his side to face Kurt as the other boy lay down next to him, intertwining their fingers. "I'm sure you could come sleep in my bed if you wanted to… since you don't have your meds."

"I think I'll be okay… I've been doing okay at school in my own bed."

"Just know my bed's got an empty side for you if you want it. There's always room for you…"

Blaine sighed and shook his head. "I don't know that us sharing a bed is a good idea anymore. I'm starting to get better… your parents aren't going to be okay with that arrangement forever. Especially once they know about us…"

"We don't have to tell them right away… we can wait."

"They should know, Kurt. I don't feel right keeping something like this from them…" Blaine began.

"It's really not that big a deal… it's not like we'd be hiding it forever. Just a few more weeks. Just until you're back on track, until you aren't coming to sleep in my bed randomly. Then we'll tell them. We'll tell the world if you want to."

"Tell the world what?" Blaine glanced at the door, not at all surprised to see Carole standing there. Blaine sat up, pulling away from Kurt slightly. "Is something going on?"

"It's nothing," Kurt replied before Blaine could say anything.

"Kurt…"

"Seriously… is there something I need to know?" Carole asked. She normally wasn't one to push, but the woman had her arms crossed and Blaine could tell that she meant business. And he hadn't even lived with the family for that long.

"We… we're sort of dating," Blaine replied. He glanced over at Kurt as he spoke, hoping the other boy wouldn't be mad at him for spilling the beans. Kurt clearly hadn't wanted to say anything to his parents about this, but Blaine couldn't imagine keeping them in the dark.

"When did this happen?"

"A couple of weeks ago." Blaine smiled at Kurt as the taller boy answered the question, smiling at him and reaching out to squeeze his hand comfortingly. "We were worried that you and Dad might not approve of us living together and dating and everything…"

"We'll have to talk about all of this. All four of us. Until then, doors stay open and I think it might be best if the two of you didn't sleep in the same bed…" Blaine nodded, knowing exactly what Carole meant and why she was worried.

"Fair enough."

* * *

Kurt knew that this was going to be an uncomfortable conversation. In fact, it would probably be incredibly awkward. And he definitely didn't want to be having this conversation with his boyfriend and stepmother in the room.

"First of all, we need to set some ground rules. If you two are dating, you aren't allowed to do anything we wouldn't let Finn do under this roof. That means that when you're here, you stay in your own bedrooms, and it doesn't go beyond kissing. No funny business."

"Mr. Hummel… I promise you that none of that is going on. Here or at Dalton. I don't want to do anything that might hurt Kurt, and that includes pressuring him into anything," Blaine replied. Kurt smiled at his boyfriend, glad that even in this ridiculously awkward situation Blaine knew how to keep his composure.

"We appreciate that, Blaine. But it's not just Kurt we're worried about… we don't want to see either of you get hurt here," Carole commented. Kurt carefully put a hand on Blaine's back, rubbing small circles.

"I wouldn't hurt Blaine. That's the last thing I would ever want to do." Kurt gently squeezed Blaine's hand, smiling at the boy as he spoke as if he needed to reassure Blaine that he was being serious.

"Kurt, I know you read the pamphlets from the free clinic… you two should look at those together before you do anything, discuss what you feel comfortable with. And use protection. I don't care if you're both virgins – and I do _not_ want confirmation of that from either of you – but you should still be careful. If you aren't mature enough to go buy condoms for yourselves, you aren't mature enough to have sex, understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Yeah, Dad. I think we get it."

"Good." Kurt took a deep breath, glad that his father hadn't done anything more embarrassing than tell his boyfriend about the pamphlets the man had picked up for Kurt several months earlier. "I think that just about covers it. Blaine, I know you were talking about going back to Dalton this morning to get your medication… if you boys want to go ahead, you can. Just make sure you call us when you get back."

"We will," Kurt replied, smiling at Blaine as the other boy got up and went upstairs to get his bag. "And Dad? Thanks for being understanding."

"Just be good to each other… I don't want to clean up a mess if things go badly between the two of you. You're my son, and Blaine might as well be at this point. This whole relationship thing is new for all of us, and it's going to take some getting used to." Kurt nodded, before he followed Blaine up the stairs. Kurt grabbed his messenger and duffle bags from their spot just inside the door of his bedroom before he walked down to Blaine's room.

"You ready to go?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah… I'm just trying to find the scarf I was wearing yesterday when we got here…"

"It's in my car. You left it there before we even came in the house. Although why you were wearing a scarf I still don't understand… it's almost May."

"Says the scarf king…" Kurt could tell from Blaine's tone of voice that he wasn't completely okay at that moment.

"Let's get you back to Dalton, get your meds back in your system. Before either my dad or Carole change their mind about being cool with the two of use being together and being roommates and everything." Kurt smiled at Blaine as the boy picked up his backpack and they started downstairs. "How you can pack for a whole weekend here in that one backpack I will probably never understand."

"It's called not caring that much about how I look. Being okay with wearing jeans and a tee shirt or a sweater on a regular basis when I don't have to wear a uniform," Blaine replied with a smile. Kurt reached out and took Blaine's hand, leading the boy back downstairs. They walked out to Kurt's SUV, throwing their things in the back seat.

"So… kind of random, but why did you decide to skip out on group yesterday? I thought it was helping." Kurt didn't look at Blaine as he asked the question, hoping that Blaine would be honest with him. It helped that Kurt needed to concentrate on the drive back to Dalton.

"Most of the people in the group started spring break yesterday… Nick and I were pretty much the only ones that were definitely going to be in town for this week. Next week is cancelled, too – combination of spring break and Easter." Kurt purposely reached out and took Blaine's hand before he said anything else.

"But you're doing okay, right?"

"I guess… I don't know if not having the medication is the problem, or if this is just me hitting a low point or something. It's not bad… I'm not like suicidal or seriously depressed or anything like that. But I don't feel great anymore." Kurt gently squeezed the older boy's hand.

"It'll be okay. We can deal with that."

"It isn't your responsibility to deal with all of that," Blaine replied.

"You aren't my responsibility… but I love you, Blaine. And I'm here for you, no matter what it is. I'm not telling you to talk to me because I feel like I have to… I want you to talk to me. I want to listen to what you have to say. And I want to be able to kiss it and make it all better, even though I know things aren't going to work that way. I'm here for you, okay?" Kurt smiled as he felt Blaine finally squeezing his hand back.

"Thank you, Kurt. It means a lot that you're sticking all of this out… I know I'm not the easiest person to deal with right now."

"When have you ever been easy to deal with?" Kurt replied with a smirk, doing his best to make it obvious that he was only joking.

"You know you love me, Kurt Hummel."

"I have since the day we met."

* * *

Kurt wrapped an arm around Blaine's shoulders as they lay in bed verbally quizzing each other on French conjugations.

"We've been at this for over an hour. Can we please stop studying and relax for a little while?" Kurt asked, turning to look at the older boy.

"Please. I could use a rest too. And something to eat… I don't know what's going on, but I feel like I've been eating constantly. I'm surprised I haven't gained like, ten pounds in the past week." Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"That doesn't sound good…"

"I know it's not. But can we not talk about the possible implications of this and talk about something else?"

"Blaine…"

"I don't want to talk about my health. Or my meds. Or anything that involves doctors or me being sick in any way, shape, or form. School – school is also off limits right now." Kurt nodded, knowing that Blaine wasn't going to budge on this until he was good and ready.

"Okay. No talk about any of that stuff. But promise me that you'll go see the nurse if it doesn't get better soon, okay? Or if you start feeling worse." Kurt watched as Blaine nodded, sighing.

"Fine. But it doesn't come up again, okay? I… I sort of wish that there was some way it could just go away. I don't think I can seriously deal with all of this…" Kurt rolled on his side so that he was face to face with his boyfriend, confused.

"Blaine… is there something you aren't telling me?"

"My mom was diabetic…" Blaine began. Kurt nodded, suddenly understanding.

"You're afraid. You think it might be that…" Kurt watched as Blaine nodded. "You realize that you have to see a doctor, don't you? This is serious… you could make yourself _really_ sick. I want you to be okay." Kurt leaned down and pressed a kiss against Blaine's forehead. "First thing in the morning. We're going to the infirmary, before breakfast."

Blaine groaned at the thought. "You mean I have to get up early?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean. You need to take care of yourself, and that means going to the doctor when you're not feeling well." Kurt planted another kiss against Blaine's forehead before the boy pulled away and got out of the bed. "Where are you going?"

"If you want me to go to the doctor in the morning, fine. But that means I need to go to bed earlier, which means that I need to get some more work done tonight."

"Do you need me to get you anything?" Kurt asked. He knew that it was better if he just admitted defeat in this situation rather than trying to fight his boyfriend on the issue. He would get further by letting Blaine do what he wanted now and using persuasion to get what he wanted from the other boy later.

"Would you mind getting me some water? I'm really thirsty…" Kurt got out of the bed and walked over to Blaine, kissing the top of his head.

"Sure thing, babe. I'll be right back."

Kurt picked up a cup and walked out of their dorm room, heading for the kitchen because there was a filter system for that sink. The water down there tasted a lot better than the water available in the rest of the building.

"Hey Kurt. How are things going?" Kurt glanced up at Wes as he heard the senior rummaging through the refrigerator, obviously looking for something.

"Well, my boyfriend is irritable, and apparently he's been hiding the fact that he might be sick from me for a couple of weeks," Kurt replied with a sigh. He could see the look of surprise on the older boy's face. "Yeah. That pretty much sums up what's going on in my life right now."

"You want me and David to deal with him for a while? Give you a break?" Kurt sighed and shook his head.

"I can handle it. I'm just frustrated that he kept all of this from me… he said he wouldn't do something like that, and now I feel like I'm having to force him to take care of himself again…"

"First of all, quit stressing. Blaine's a big boy, I'm sure he can take care of himself…"

"Wes, he's eating again like normal and he's _still_ not gaining any of the weight he lost back. It's kind of hard to avoid worrying, you know?"

"And you stressing out like all of this is going to help him how, exactly?" Wes asked. Kurt sighed, shaking his head as he realized that the older boy was right. "Just convince him to go to the doctor tomorrow… that's the best you can do for him.

"Oh, we've already established that he's going. I'll drag him down to the infirmary if I have to."

"So what good is it going to do you to stress if you're already planning on doing the only thing you can really do to help him?"


	11. Diagnosis

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Glee or any of these characters… if I did, Karofsky wouldn't exist anymore, Jesse wouldn't have been such an asshole (albeit one I believe legitimately fell for Rachel), and there would be a LOT more Blaine.

**A/n: Alright… I FINALLY have an update for all of you! I'm sorry about the long wait; between vacation, work, and trying to get my school situation for the fall figured out, I haven't really had a lot of time to write. And what time I've had has been focused mainly on the novel I've spent the last year and a half working on that I just recently scrapped and started over from scratch. Which is going pretty well, actually – I almost have as many words now as I did on my original draft, and I spent about 4 months on that one. The second draft (which has been pretty much completely rewritten) has been worked on for less than a month. Anyways… onto the new chapter!**

Blaine watched silently as the nurse stuck a needle into his arm. "Is this really necessary?" Blaine asked. He didn't particularly like needles, and they had already drawn a lot of blood for other tests.

"I'm just following the doctor's orders, sweetie. Given your family history, it's probably better to have more information…" the nurse began. Blaine closed his eyes, trying to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach as the nurse worked. That had started not long after he'd woken up, and it only seemed to be getting worse. "We still need to get a chest x-ray, too, to help rule out any kind of infection."

"But my chest doesn't hurt…"

"That doesn't mean that there couldn't be something wrong… the more information we have, the easier it will be to make a diagnosis. Just trust me on this one." Blaine nodded, bending his elbow once the nurse removed the needle to help stop the bleeding. He didn't particularly want to be at a doctor's office in town, but the nurse at the school infirmary had insisted that Blaine be seen by an actual doctor as soon as she'd heard his symptoms.

The nurse finally left Blaine alone in the exam room; the secretary from the school office that had driven him to the doctor had stayed out in the waiting room for privacy reasons, and Blaine had brought a book because he had known that it would be a while. He got off the exam table once she was gone, settling into the only other chair in the room with the book he was still working on for his English class.

It seemed like ages before the doctor actually came into the room, but once he was there the man didn't waste any time getting right to the point. "We need to get you into the hospital, at least overnight. You're pretty seriously dehydrated, and your blood sugar is elevated… I'm worried that you might be suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis." Blaine shook his head, closing his eyes and trying to fight back the tears.

"But I'm not diabetic…"

"Blaine, it's definitely a possibility. Which is why we need to really look into this, to make sure that we take care of your symptoms and get you healthy."

"I need to get back to school… I have too much to do this week, and I'm already behind…" Blaine began.

"Blaine, this is a medical emergency. I know you don't want to think about it, but the reality is that whatever is going on could be fatal. You're only going to get worse… I can't let you go back to school like this."

"I can't…" Blaine shook his head, still trying to process everything. "Diabetes?" The doctor put a hand on his shoulder.

"I think so… we still need to run some more tests, but I don't see any other possible explanations. And given the fact that you have a family history of the disease, that would be a logical explanation for all of your symptoms." Blaine finally nodded, sighing.

"Okay… I'll go," Blaine replied.

"I'm going to go call the hospital to let them know you're coming, and I'll explain everything to Miss Johnson. Are you okay?" Blaine nodded in response, pulling out his cell phone.

"I just…" Blaine began. He couldn't finish; Blaine was too upset to get the words out.

"I understand… you need a minute." Blaine glanced down at the screen of his phone as the doctor left him alone, scrolling quickly through his contact list until it hit the one number he knew he needed to call. He didn't want to scare anyone; Blaine knew that as soon as Burt and Carole heard that the doctor wanted to put him in the hospital, at least one of them would drop everything and rush to Westerville. He didn't want to cause them any more grief, but Blaine knew that they needed to know what was going on.

The phone only rang a couple of times before Burt picked up the phone. "_Hummel Tire and Lube, Burt speaking_."

"Mr. Hummel… it's Blaine…"

"_Something wrong, kid? Shouldn't you be in class right now?_" Blaine sighed, closing his eyes again. He didn't want to do this; he didn't want to screw up everyone else's lives again.

"I'm at the doctor's office. They… they want to put me in the hospital…"

"_Okay, kid… tell me what's going on. Why are they putting you in the hospital? Does it have something to do with all of the meds you're taking?_"

"No… it's not the meds. The doctor thinks I might be diabetic. He said they still needed to run some more tests to be sure, but that he can't think of another explanation…"

"_Okay… I'm going to call Carole before she goes to work, and we're going to figure something out so that you don't have to be alone. Just hang in there, and do whatever the doctor tells you. Let him figure out what's going on so that we can get you better._" Blaine nodded, even though Burt couldn't see him.

"I'll be okay, Burt… you don't have to change everything for me…"

"_You just need to worry about getting some rest and getting better. Not about anyone else,_" Burt replied. "_Don't worry too much… you're going to be okay, understand? The doctors are going to take care of you._"

"Okay… I just need to tell Kurt what's going on…"

"_Okay. Just take care of yourself._"

* * *

If there was one thing Kurt really hated about Dalton, it was the fact that all of the teachers would take away cell phones the moment they saw them. Under normal circumstances it wouldn't have been an issue, but his English teacher refused to give the phone back until the end of the school day despite the fact that Kurt had tried to explain that he was waiting to hear from Blaine. He'd only gotten the phone out because he'd thought he'd felt it vibrate.

"So, what did the doctor say about Blaine?" Kurt sighed as Wes asked the question. Blaine's friends all knew by now that the nurse in the school's infirmary had sent him to the doctor's office in town. Which pretty much everyone at Dalton knew was a bad sign; the nurse could take care of just about anything, and she only sent students who were potentially _really_ sick to see someone off-campus.

"If I knew, I would tell you. But my phone got taken away in English class and I couldn't get it back until after last period. You haven't heard anything?" Kurt figured that if anyone was going to hear from Blaine besides himself, it would be Wes or David. And since David wasn't currently available due to being out of town with the debate team, Wes was the logical choice.

"No… I'm surprised he hasn't texted me trying to figure out why you aren't responding…" Wes replied. "We should probably go get your phone before he starts freaking out."

The two boys hurried down to the English classroom and Kurt left Wes waiting just outside the room as he went in to get his phone. The teacher wasn't happy at all, but she handed over the phone with a warning that she had better not ever see him with it out again.

Kurt had approximately half a dozen messages waiting for him, mostly from Blaine. Kurt was surprised to find that one of the messages was from Carole's cell phone. He clicked on the oldest message from Blaine.

_Call me when you get a chance… they're sending me to the hospital. :(_ Kurt bit down on his bottom lip as he read over the rest of the messages, doing his best not to freak out about the fact that his boyfriend was currently in a hospital bed.

"Everything okay?" Wes asked. Kurt shook his head, sighing.

"I have to get to the hospital… I don't know what's going on, but it really doesn't sound good," Kurt replied.

"I'll go with you. We should take him some stuff to keep him entertained… did he say how long they want to keep him?" Kurt shook his head.

"He didn't say. I'm not sure if they know yet… Blaine didn't say anything about why they were putting him in the hospital. I'm worried…"

"I'm sure he'll be okay in a few days… let's go get his computer and some of his movie collection. And _Harry Potter_ – he always wants to watch those movies when he doesn't feel well." Kurt smiled slightly, grateful that his boyfriend had friends who cared enough to remember things like what movies Blaine liked to watch when he was sick.

"That's a good idea… I think that's pretty much the only thing he likes when he's sick that we might be allowed to bring him," Kurt replied, sighing. "Let's go… I'm sure he's not alone, but I'd rather be there with him."

* * *

Being in the hospital sucked. Blaine knew that before he was admitted, but it certainly didn't make dealing with being stuck in a narrow bed with an IV line in his arm any easier. He sort of felt bad that he was screwing up Carole's work schedule once again; she had spent so much time off taking care of him right after his mother's death, and now she was taking more time off to be with him while he was in the hospital.

"You really don't have to take off work… I'll be okay by myself…" Blaine began.

"Don't you dare start worrying about me taking off work… your health is much more important. And Burt and I don't want you to be alone right now… not until we know what's going on and we know that you're going to be okay," Carole replied, cutting him off.

"Carole…"

"We're not going to argue about this, sweetie. You get some rest… I have a feeling Kurt is going to be here soon to check on you. And I know that you will want to be awake while he's here."

"I'm not really tired," Blaine replied. "I'm just still really thirsty…"

"I'll talk to the nurse and see if you can have anything to drink." Blaine closed his eyes as Carole squeezed his hand, standing up and walking out of the little room to talk to the nurse for Blaine. He didn't want to be there; Blaine wanted nothing more than to be back in the dorm room he shared with Kurt, working on the ridiculous amount of schoolwork that he still needed to tackle. But there was no way anyone would let him leave now, not when they knew that he was sick.

"Blaine?" The boy opened his eyes as he heard a familiar voice calling his name, smiling slightly as he saw his boyfriend and one of his best friends standing in the doorway. "How are you feeling?"

"Definitely not sick enough to be in the hospital," Blaine replied as Kurt and Wes approached the bed. "What's in the bag?" Wes smiled as he put it down.

"Just a few things we knew you would want. Computer, a couple of movies. And some school work, because we know you were already freaking out about getting everything done," Wes replied.

"But not too much, because you're probably supposed to be resting. Even if you don't feel that sick," Kurt added.

"Thanks, guys. Do you have to get back to school, or do you want to put on one of the movies?" Blaine scooted over to make room on the bed for Kurt, in case the other two decided to stay.

"We have some time… I was planning on sticking around for a little while anyway," Wes replied as Kurt pulled the laptop out of the bag, setting it up on the tray table and pulling out the stack of movies they had brought before he sat down on the bed next to Blaine.

"Your pick… and you should know we wouldn't just drop this stuff off and then leave you alone," Kurt replied, leaning in to press a kiss against Blaine's cheek. Blaine smiled slightly and snuggled closer to his boyfriend, closing his eyes and pulling a movie out of the pile without really looking. "_Pirates_?"

"I don't really care," Blaine replied, handing it over as Wes settled down in the only chair in the room. "Wait… where did Carole go?"

"She went downstairs to call my dad and get some dinner. Oh… and she asked me to tell you that they said you can't have anything just yet," Kurt said. Blaine pouted slightly. "Hey… it's just for a little while longer. They just want to keep everything controlled so that you don't end up getting sicker."

"But I'm so thirsty…" Blaine muttered.

"You'll survive. You just need something to take your mind off of it until things work themselves out," Kurt replied.

Blaine curled up next to his boyfriend as the movie started on his laptop, trying to focus on the adventures of Jack Sparrow rather than how much he really wanted a glass of water.

He didn't remember falling asleep, but Blaine certainly remembered being woken up as Kurt got out of the bed. "Please don't go…"

"I have to… we both have homework that we need to get done before class tomorrow. But I'm going to come back as soon as school gets out." Blaine closed his eyes as Kurt leaned in and pressed a kiss against his forehead. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Blaine gently squeezed Kurt's hand.

"See you later, man. Feel better, okay?" Blaine smiled at Wes as the two left the room. Blaine closed his eyes again for a moment, before he started to dig through the backpack the other two ad left, trying to find some more of his homework to deal with. He'd already finished the book he'd taken to the doctor's office with him.

Blaine had already started working on what was left of his chemistry make-up work before Carole came back into the room. "How are you feeling?" Blaine couldn't help himself as he rolled his eyes. He was getting really sick of that particular question.

"I don't feel sick… not really. And I really don't want to be here," Blaine replied.

"It's just until they get your blood sugar under control. Once they have everything stabilized again, they'll let you come home…"

"You mean go back to school."

"No… you're going to come back to Lima for a couple of days, just until you have everything under control. Then you can go back to school."

"I know what to do, Carole… my mom was diabetic. I watched her deal with all of this my entire life…" Blaine began.

"Sweetie, it's different when you have to deal with something like this for yourself. You may understand what needs to be done, but that doesn't mean that you're going to remember everything right away. It's just going to be a few days."

"A few days… that's like an eternity at Dalton…" Blaine began.

"You'll still have time to get caught up. We can make sure of that." Blaine sighed, choosing to go back to his homework rather than try to argue with Carole about any of this. Blaine was quickly learning that it was no good arguing with Carole and Burt about anything. When they made up their minds that something needed to be done, it was going to happen their way. "Just don't work too hard, sweetie. You still need to be getting plenty of rest, even if you don't feel like you're sick."

"It's not like I can really go anywhere… how am I going to overdo it when I'm still stuck in bed?" Blaine commented.

* * *

Blaine really didn't want to be stuck in Lima, but he hadn't exactly been given a choice when it came time for him to get out of the hospital. Now it was Friday, and Blaine was trying to figure out exactly how he was going to approach the subject of driving to the group sessions he went to every week. Blaine sighed as he walked downstairs fully dressed, wondering exactly what he was going to say.

"Hey, Carole? Can I talk to you?" Blaine asked, walking into the kitchen. He wasn't that surprised when she put down the dish towel, turning around to face him.

"What's going on? Is everything okay?" Blaine nodded, sighing at the question. It seemed like that was the only thing anyone ever wanted to ask him anymore.

"Yeah… which is why I'm wondering if I could go out for a little while," Blaine replied. "Just to group… I sort of feel like I need to go this week, after everything that's happened." Blaine bit down on his bottom lip as Carole seemed to think about what he had just asked.

"It's just for a few hours, right?" Blaine nodded in response. "Okay. But I think you should take something to eat, just in case you start feeling sick. And you need to make sure you check your blood sugar regularly."

"I know, Carole… I'll do it." He watched as Carole smiled at him, walking over and giving him a hug.

"I know you're responsible and that you'll do what you're supposed to… I just can't help but worry. I'm a mom – it's sort of in the job description." Blaine nodded, knowing that Carole was right. It wasn't like she was acting this way to annoy him; she just wanted to make sure that he was okay.

"I know. I just get frustrated… I'm still trying to get used to the idea of being so completely out of control of everything right now…" Blaine commented. Carole nodded.

"I know, sweetie. But it's just a little longer… you just need some time to adjust to all of the new things going on in your life. Change is tough. Especially when you have to deal with so much of it in such a short period of time. Go get ready, and I'll figure out something for you to take with you to eat."

Blaine nodded, turning around and starting up the stairs as Carole turned around and went back into the kitchen. He picked up his phone, shooting a quick text message to Nick. _I'm coming this afternoon… let them know I might be late_. Blaine sat down on his bed, sliding his feet into a pair of shoes before he walked into the bathroom to start getting ready. He picked up the little black pouch that held his blood sugar monitor, pulling everything out and pricking his arm so that he could get a reading. He sighed as he realized the number was a little lower than it should have been, meaning that he had probably accidentally given himself too much insulin earlier. He was still trying to figure everything out, and it wasn't exactly easy.

Blaine grabbed his cell phone off the nightstand and tucked it into his messenger bag, adding in the little black case once he had re-packed it. He thought that he would be cutting it close to get to the meeting on time, but he wasn't going to go without having something to do. Considering how much homework he still had to do, he couldn't afford to forget it.

"Keys and a snack… do you need anything else before you go?" Carole asked, standing in the doorway of Blaine's room.

"I was going to grab something to eat before I left… I just checked, and it was 63."

"How about some fruit? I bought some oranges. Or blueberries… I know they're your favorite." Blaine nodded, smiling slightly.

"Yeah, that sounds good. I'll grab something on the way out the door," Blaine replied. He hugged Carole quickly, smiling slightly. "Thanks, Carole. For everything. It really means a lot that you and Burt have done so much for me… you didn't have to do any of it."

"We wouldn't have let you just get tossed around… that was the last thing you needed to have happen at that point. And you're a member of the family now." Blaine closed his eyes for a moment as Carole pressed a kiss on his forehead. "You should get going… I don't want you to be too late for your group meeting.

"Thanks, Carole."

* * *

Blaine slid through the doorway, doing his best to be as quiet as possible so that he wouldn't disrupt the group meeting that had already started. He had really tried to be on time, but traffic and the necessity of stopping to check his blood sugar again had pushed him a few minutes further behind schedule than he had intended to let himself get.

"Blaine… we were starting to wonder if you were coming." Blaine smiled slightly as he sank down into the empty seat nearest the door.

"Sorry… traffic was kind of a mess…"

"I heard that you might have had kind of a rough week… Nick mentioned that you had been in the hospital. Do you want to talk about it?" Blaine sighed at the group leader's question, glancing over at Nick. The other boy looked slightly guilty, but Blaine didn't even really care. They were going to figure it out eventually.

"I'm doing better. I, uh… I was diagnosed with diabetes. Type I… like my mom. I don't _feel_ sick. But I keep thinking about how bad she got right before she died. How sick she was. And I can't help but start to worry that the same thing is going to happen to me, that I'm going to end up…" Blaine couldn't finish his sentence. He couldn't make himself admit that he was afraid of dying.

"You're afraid that you'll die because you have the same illness…" Blaine looked up at the words, nodding as he saw a new member sitting in the corner of the couch he had taken up residence in a couple of months earlier. His name tag said that his name was Eric.

"Yeah. Exactly." Blaine watched as Eric nodded.

"I know how that feels…"

"Eric, would you like to share?" Blaine bit down on his bottom lip as he waited to see what the other boy would do.

"I know you may think that it's the end of the world… but seriously, you can't let yourself give up just because you know that you might die. You don't have it that bad… trust me on that one. You have answers. Solutions. You go to the doctor, and they know exactly what's going to fix you. I go to the doctor and they have guesses, and a new combination of drugs every few months. You take care of yourself, and you'll live to a normal age. No matter how hard I try, it's going to be an accomplishment if I live to see twenty-five. It'll take a miracle for me to see thirty." Blaine watched for a moment as the boy took a deep breath. "I'm not saying any of this because I want your pity… I'm saying it because you shouldn't wallow in self-pity. You just have to live. While you still have the chance."

"I think that's the best advice anyone has given me since all of this started," Blaine replied.

The group session was pretty normal after that, with everyone who wanted to talk getting a turn. Blaine mostly kept quiet, listening to everyone else and occasionally sneaking glances at Eric. He wondered what was wrong with the other boy that caused him to be so ill. But he had a feeling that it wasn't appropriate to ask, and Blaine didn't want to impose. Instead of approaching the guy after the session ended, Blaine chose to walk over to Nick and talk to his friend for a few moments.

"You aren't mad at me, are you? I was worried… you said you were coming, and then when you were late I sort of wondered out loud if you had ended up back in the hospital. Which made everyone else worry…" Nick began.

"It's okay. I was sort of wondering how I was going to bring it all up… I wanted to talk about it."

"You are okay, right? I don't need to be worried, or anything?"

"I'm still kind of in the learning curve, trying to figure out how to do all of the stuff I used to see my mom doing for myself. But I'll be okay once I get used to all of this." Blaine was a little surprised when Nick moved in to give him a hug, but he accepted it. Strange things happened in group all the time; given all the emotions that got brought up in a given session, it wasn't all that unusual for people to need some kind of comfort afterwards. "Hey… is everything okay?"

"I'm just glad you're okay, man. We were all really worried. _I_ was really worried. Before I knew what was going on, I was afraid…" Nick began. Blaine raised an eyebrow, until he realized what Nick had been afraid of.

"You were afraid that I had done something stupid…"

"Yeah." Blaine nodded. "I'm sorry… I shouldn't jump to conclusions like that. I'm the one who did that, not you. And you've done everything right – you asked for help when you needed it. You've worked to get through all of this without doing stupid shit like trying to kill yourself."

"Nick… chill out. Just call me before you start to freak out again, okay? I'll tell you the truth, if you really want to know." Blaine watched as Nick smiled.

"I didn't think all of this through very well, did I?" Blaine shook his head, smiling back at his friend.

"No. You really didn't. But you haven't exactly had a lot of experience with trying to help someone else through all of this… this is new territory for everyone."

"So… will you be back at school on Monday?" Nick asked. Blaine shrugged.

"If I get this dosage thing figured out, yeah. I'm still kind of having trouble… I'm doing something wrong when I figure out how much insulin I need to take, so I keep ending up with my blood sugar a little too low. Which means I have to eat at weird times and stuff…"

"You'll get it. It just takes some practice, I'm sure."

"Just as long as I don't end up making myself sick again, I'm good. I don't want to end up back in the hospital any time soon," Blaine replied. He watched as Nick nodded.

"I'll talk to you later, man… I think there might be someone else who wants to talk to you before you go home." Blaine turned around as Nick gestured behind him, smiling at Eric.

"I'll see you at school next week." Blaine stuck his good hand in his pocket, walking over to the new guy in the group. "Hey, man. Thanks for earlier… I really think I needed to hear that."

"No problem… it's all about your attitude, really. The way I see it, you can't let yourself get upset over the stuff you can't control. Being sick is one of those things…" Blaine smiled slightly, nodding at Eric's comment.

"Yeah. I get that. It's just hard to deal with at first, you know?"

"No… I wish I did know. But I was born sick. My mom didn't know that she had HIV until after she had me, and by then it was too late. I was already infected. I guess that makes it easier to accept the fact that I'm going to die young – I never knew what it was like to really have much of a future to begin with."

"I'm guessing your mom died?" Blaine asked. He watched as Eric nodded.

"My dad, too. He was infected first… didn't realize that having unprotected sex with other guys would potentially cause a problem." Blaine watched as Eric scoffed at the thought. "Yeah… my dad was a closeted fag…" Blaine backed away, crossing his arms as he did so.

"Don't use that word. I _really_ hate that one…" Blaine began.

"Oh. You're gay…"

"Yeah, I am. And I have a boyfriend. So I really don't appreciate it when people say things like that, like there's something inherently wrong with being gay."

"I'm sorry, man. I didn't mean that as a shot at you. I don't really care, okay? I just have a hard time forgiving my dad for what he did… it's one thing to be in a committed relationship, but he cheated on my mom. With a guy. He couldn't ever admit that he was gay." Blaine sighed.

"Just don't use that word, please… I've dealt with a lot of shit in the past, and it always seemed like that word was somehow involved in all of it…"

"I really am sorry, Blaine. I should know better than to say shit like that around people I don't know. You never know what people feel or believe before you get to know them." Blaine nodded.

"It's okay. Just… try not to use that one. About anyone."


	12. The More Things Change

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Glee or any of these characters… if I did, Karofsky wouldn't exist anymore, Jesse wouldn't have been such an asshole (albeit one I believe legitimately fell for Rachel), and there would be a LOT more Blaine.

**A/n: So I'm sorry for the delay. But I've had two new ideas come up since I've ended all of my other stories, and I've been addicted to writing one of them (the other is still in the planning stages in my head). I'm going to start trying to wind this down soon, though, so hopefully there will only be a couple more updates here before I get it finished.**

Going back to school wasn't exactly the easiest thing for Blaine to do on Monday morning. Carole and Burt were convinced that he could handle keeping up with everything while he was at school, but Blaine was still a little nervous. He knew that a lot of his classmates were giving him strange looks again, although this time around it seemed to be mostly looks of concern rather than pity.

"I hate it when they stare," Blaine muttered, walking towards the Warblers hall between Kurt and Wes. "You would think I'm about to drop dead or something."

"You do have to admit, your life has been feeding the gossip mill around here for a while… it's going to take the next big scandal for them to stop giving you those looks," Wes replied.

"I thought the gossip thing wouldn't be as bad at an all-boys school… but it only seems to spread faster around here than it ever did at McKinley," Kurt added. Blaine smiled slightly as Kurt put an arm around his shoulders, even though that only highlighted the fact that Blaine was the shorter of the pair.

"At least people around here check their facts before they start saying stuff. Or have a good reason to think that what they're saying is true…"

"I need to run by the bathroom before rehearsal… I feel kind of shaky, and Jeff's terrified of blood. I'm not sure how much it takes to freak him out…"

"Just try not to be late, okay? We need to get some stuff settled for next year. Like new council members…" Blaine nodded, breaking away from the other two and ducking into the closest bathroom as he pulled the little black case out of his backpack.

Blaine didn't realize that he wasn't alone at first; it wasn't exactly quiet in Dalton's halls after the last bell rang – the day students were always in a hurry to get home and the boarders were rushing around to get changed for after school activities or to just get out of the uniform for a little while – and Blaine wasn't really expecting anyone to be in the room.

The sound of one of the stall doors opening made Blaine turn around. "Hey, Nick… how are you doing?" Blaine didn't actually watch Nick as the other boy walked over to the sink to wash his hands.

"Okay… just trying not to be late for rehearsal. How are you?" Nick didn't sound like himself, which made Blaine look back up from what he was doing and watch.

"Shit… you're bleeding," Blaine commented, seeing the pink tinge of the water as it went down the drain. He grabbed a handful of paper towels, moving to press them against Nick's arm.

"It's fine… just leave it alone…" Blaine stepped back as Nick took the paper towels from his hand and started pressing on his arm. He hadn't seen where the blood was coming from, but Blaine had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what was going on. He walked into the stall Nick had just exited from, sighing when he saw the drips of blood and the razor blade in the trash can. "Please… don't say anything, Blaine…"

Blaine didn't comment on what he found. Instead, he walked over to the other boy and put his arms around him, giving Nick a tight hug. He didn't want to let go, but Blaine knew that he couldn't stand there with Nick forever. "Talk to me." Blaine backed away slightly, watching his friend.

"I'm just having a hard time right now… my grandmother was diagnosed with leukemia last week. I just need an escape…" Nick began. Blaine was shocked when the boy attached himself to Blaine again. "Why does everyone have to leave me? Why can't anyone stay?" Blaine shook his head, sighing.

"I can't answer that… I wish I knew why things had to be like this. But I don't. No one does." Blaine did his best to comfort his friend, but it wasn't easy considering the fact that he was still trying to figure out what he needed to say to the other boy. "This isn't the answer, Nick."

"I know. I know that I'm fucking up everything I've worked for… but I don't know how to hold it together anymore…"

"You should skip rehearsal… I can cover for you with the council. Go get some rest, or go see your therapist, or something. But get some help, _please_… don't go down this path again."

"You're right… I should go. I'll see if I can get an appointment," Nick began. Blaine smiled at the boy as he let go, but grabbed Nick's shoulder as the boy started to go back towards the stall he'd just come out of.

"Leave the blade. Get out of here… go get yourself some help. And come talk to me tonight when you get back… I just want to know that you're okay." Blaine watched as Nick nodded and walked out of the room. Blaine finally glanced at the screen on the little black machine, sighing as he saw that the number was significantly lower than what it should have been. With classes and everything, he'd clearly screwed up his dosage again and taken too much insulin. Which meant that he had to find something to eat pretty quickly – before rehearsal – if he was going to make it through the next hour. He pulled out his phone to send a quick text message to Kurt.

_Tell them I'm coming… ran into some issues on the way. Nick's not going to be there, though._

Blaine hurried down to the little café that was set up for students to use when the cafeteria wasn't open, grabbing a muffin before he made his way down to the Warblers common room and snuck in the door, silently making his way to the empty seat next to Kurt as the members of the Council explained what would be going on during the meeting.

"We need to choose three rising seniors for next year's council. Would all the juniors please raise their hands." Blaine's hand went up in the air along with those of a few other members.

"Nick's name should be on that list as well," Jeff commented.

"Thanks, Jeff. Right, so most of you know how this works but we'll explain for any new members. Every junior is automatically nominated to be on the council. Everyone but the current council is allowed to vote, and we keep track of how many votes each junior receives in the minutes. If you are elected, you have the right to refuse the position and it will be given to the next person on the list. The members of the new council aren't announced until a week after the election, so that those elected are given a chance to decline the position. Any questions?"

"What if a council member ends up not returning to Dalton?" Blaine glanced at Kurt, raising an eyebrow. Kurt just shrugged in response.

"It's never come up before, but I would assume that it would follow the same process as if that member were to refuse his position," David replied.

"You aren't thinking about leaving, are you Kurt?" Wes asked.

"It's a money issue… if I can stay I will. But nothing's guaranteed. Not until the money's paid, anyway." Blaine squeezed Kurt's shoulder, putting an arm around his boyfriend.

"Things will work out like they're supposed to," he whispered.

"Alright, gentlemen, let's get started with the voting process. Everyone write down three names on a piece of paper."

Blaine stared at his paper for a moment, before he carefully wrote down three names that he knew would do a good job leading the council – Trent, Ian, and Kurt. It was a tough decision; anyone in the Warblers would have done a good job because they all really cared about the group. But Ian was probably the most organized member of the group, Trent was excellent at arranging music, and Kurt had some great ideas. Not to mention that all three were leaders, in their own way. They would make a good team.

Waiting for the results to come in wasn't exactly fun; several of the juniors were antsy because they really wanted that particular honor, and most of the underclassmen were bored because they didn't really have much of a stake in who won the positions this year. The room was full of conversation as they all waited to see what was coming. Blaine just focused on eating his muffin as he listened to Kurt's nervous chatter about what was going to happen next.

"Alright, settle down!" Everyone jumped slightly at the sound of Wes's gavel pounding against the desktop. "We have our new council. Congratulations to Ian McKibbon, Kurt Hummel, and Blaine Anderson." Blaine looked up, surprised to hear his name called among the new council's members. He hardly even noticed the fact that Kurt nearly jumped on top of him with a hug.

* * *

"You really didn't expect to get your spot on the council? _You_, the lead soloist?" Kurt seemed to be in shock at Blaine's admission.

"With everything that's happened this school year, I didn't think that I was still the lead soloist – I sort of let everyone down at Regionals by not being able to compete. There are people that deserve this so much more than I do this year," Blaine replied.

"But everyone understands that you've had a lot happen this year… and before all of that, you were just as much of a leader in the group as any of the council members. They deferred to you about a lot of things… those three were pretty much grooming you to take one of their places."

"I still don't think it's fair." Blaine looked up from the chemistry homework he was supposed to be doing as he heard a knock on the door. "I've got it… that's probably Nick."

Blaine opened the door and slid out, smiling at his friend. "I'm sorry I didn't come earlier… Dr. Hoult had another client…"

"Don't worry about it, Nick… how are you?"

"Okay. I still want to cut, but I think I can handle it now," Nick replied. Blaine nodded, putting a hand on the other boy's shoulder and gently squeezing it.

"I'm here for you, okay? Come get me any time you need to talk… I want you to be okay."

"I'm not going to wake you up in the middle of the night…"

"I don't care if I'm in class, Nick… _any_ time. You helped me… just let me help you, okay?" Blaine watched as Nick nodded, sighing.

"I'm going to go take a shower, get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay. Take care of yourself."

"How's Nick?" Kurt asked as soon as Blaine walked back in the door. Blaine sighed, shaking his head.

"He says he's okay. I'm not sure how truthful that is, but I didn't want to push him. Don't be surprised if he shows up in the middle of the night or something, though. I told him he could come talk to me any time…" Blaine smiled as Kurt walked over to him, leaning in to press a soft kiss on his lips. "What did I do to deserve that?"

"It's an advance apology for cursing you out when Nick actually takes you up on that offer," Kurt replied with a smirk.

"Yeah… I wasn't exactly thinking about that…"

"It'll be okay. I just won't be happy with you for a couple of hours because of the sleep I'll lose worrying about Nick now…" Blaine smiled, leaning in for another kiss that was significantly more passionate than the first.

"Thank you for understanding," Blaine whispered, closing his eyes as they stood there, Kurt leaning down slightly so that their foreheads touched. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I love you even more now… I didn't even think that was possible."

"I wouldn't be nearly as okay with all of this if I wasn't head over heels for you already." Blaine smiled as Kurt kissed him again.

"As much as I love this, I have homework to finish…" Blaine began.

"Me too… maybe once we're done we can have some time to ourselves to have a little fun." Blaine kissed Kurt softly, keeping it short.

"I like that idea. A lot."

* * *

Blaine couldn't believe his luck as he lay on the grass next to Kurt, staring up at the clouds. Considering everything that had happened, it seemed as though Blaine's life was as close to perfect as it could be.

"I can't believe this school year is almost over…" Blaine smiled as Kurt spoke.

"I can't believe I actually finished all of that make-up work in time to finish the semester with everyone else." Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand. "Even with everything that's happened, I actually feel kind of lucky… I lost my mom, but I gained a new family." He raised an eyebrow as Kurt groaned.

"That sort of makes this sound… I dunno, sordid I guess."

"What? I live with your family, and I'm pretty sure that we've gotten to the point where I'm going to start getting chores."

"But you are still my boyfriend… so even though my parents do care about you, it's still weird for you to consider them your family. At least until we're married or something…" Blaine turned over and raised an eyebrow as he looked at Kurt. "What?"

"You mentioned marriage… and we've only been together a couple of months." Blaine did his best to avoid putting any kind of emphasis on the words that might give them a meaning other than simply stating a fact.

"I'm not freaking you out with that, am I? I mean, I only said it…"

"Kurt, shut up. Right now, I'm not thinking about marriage because I'm too young. We're too young. But if I were thinking about it… you wouldn't be my first choice." Blaine noticed the way Kurt's face dropped. He had known that he would get that kind of response, which was precisely why Blaine had chosen his next words carefully. "You would be my _only_ choice." Blaine leaned in and pressed a kiss against Kurt's lips. "I love you. I've had crushes before, but it was nothing like this. _This_ is the real deal… I just don't want to screw things up between us by letting things go too fast."

"You didn't feel that way a couple of months ago…"

"A couple of months ago I wasn't thinking clearly yet. I needed some time to get my head on straight, and you gave me that. I didn't like it at the time, but I get it now. You wanted to protect me from getting my heart broken."

"I've loved you for a long time… I wasn't sure how you felt, and I wanted to make sure that you weren't falling for me for all the wrong reasons," Kurt replied. Blaine smiled as the boy reached up and started playing with his curls. "You have no idea how happy I was when I realized that you really were in love with me… that you weren't making a mistake by thinking you returned my feelings."

"It wouldn't have ever been a mistake…" Blaine began. He started to kiss Kurt again, until he heard a throat clearing behind him. Blaine looked up, sighing as he recognized his father standing there.

"I guess this means that what my son told me is true…" Blaine sat up, turning around so that he could face his father, legs crossed.

"If you're trying to ask if I'm gay, the answer is yes. And Kurt and I are dating. If you have a problem with that, it's your problem. Not mine." Blaine didn't even really look at his father as he gave the man a moment to process what he'd just said.

"I wish you had told me."

"Would it really have mattered? It wouldn't have changed anything."

"It would have been nice to get more than five minutes to process the fact that I have not one but _two_ gay sons," Blaine's father replied. Blaine glanced up at the man, whose arms were crossed. "I'm assuming Burt and Carole know about all of this?" Blaine nodded.

"And you don't have to worry about the whole sex talk thing… Burt covered everything pretty well when we told them."

"That's not exactly what I'm here for, Blaine."

"Then what are you doing here? Because I really don't have time for more excuses about why you can't be my father right now." He felt Kurt gently squeeze his shoulder and reached up to put a hand on top of Kurt's.

"There's an election coming up next year. My wife thinks the time is right to come clean about everything. Including the fact that you're my son."

"She wants to use me to get votes?"

"She doesn't want to lie anymore." Blaine shook his head.

"I'm not going to just move in with you all of a sudden, change everything about my life… I can't handle that right now."

"I'm not asking you to move in with us or anything like that…"

"What are you going to tell Jacob? Or the others? Are they going to find out that I knew about all of this before I even met them, and that the only reason I didn't say anything is because _you_ said that they couldn't know?"

"That's up to you."

"I don't want to lie to them," Blaine replied. He looked down at the ground again. "You should know that they asked. About my family. And I told them the truth – I just left out the fact that we shared a father."

"I wish you hadn't done that…"

"You asked me not to tell them that I was their brother. You didn't say anything about me not telling them why I didn't have a father I could live with instead of staying with the Hummels." Blaine paused for a moment, sighing. "Does she know?"

"Jacob told both of us what was going on."

"I don't want to be a pawn in this political game. I don't want to be used for the votes that your wife will get for being seen as accepting because she doesn't mind letting your gay, bastard son be part of the family."

"Blaine, you have to realize that my wife is _never_ going to accept you as part of the family otherwise… if you want to be part of my life, this is the only way…" Blaine stood up, shaking his head.

"I don't want you in my life if this is all it's going to be. If you're going to be my father, I need you all the time… not just when it's convenient for you. Do you have _any_ idea how much you could fuck up my life right now?"

"What do you want me to do, Blaine?"

"I want you to be a man!" Blaine couldn't help but yell; he was upset, and it was difficult to control his emotions whenever the older man was around. "I've gone seventeen years without a father. I don't exactly need one now."

"One dinner, Blaine. Just come meet your siblings… all of them. Then decide how much you want to be involved in all of this. We can change the way we approach things, but you need to give all of this a chance."

"Blaine…" He turned towards Kurt, who was squeezing his shoulder again. "Give it a chance… you said that you wanted to get to know them. At least have dinner with them." Blaine sighed, knowing that his boyfriend was right. The one thing he wanted more than anything was to have a relationship with his siblings, and his father was opening that door.

"I'll go on one condition. I'm not coming unless Kurt's invited, too. If you want to know me, you have to get to know Kurt. He's too important to my life…"

"Okay. Friday night… I'll e-mail you directions to the house. Dinner's at seven-thirty." Blaine nodded at his father's words, crossing his arms again.

"We'll be there." Blaine and Kurt both watched as Mr. Anderson walked away, back towards the parking lot.

"Friday night is family dinner, Blaine. And you'll miss out on your group session…"

"I know. But this is the only way I can get what I want. You don't have to come with me, Kurt, but I wish you would," Blaine replied, turning around to face his boyfriend. "Do you think your dad would be that upset if you went with me?"

"I think he would be okay with it, if he knows that I'm going to be there to support you. But I _am_ going to tell him everything…" Blaine sighed.

"I wouldn't want you to keep any of it from your dad. Not even the part about how they want to basically use me to win over the voters."

"Blaine…"

"I need to start studying for finals. We can talk about this later."

* * *

Kurt wasn't really expecting the GPS in Blaine's car to lead them to the McMansion they were currently sitting in front of, but apparently the older boy's biological father lacked taste or originality when it came to architecture. "I can't believe they live here… it's like something out of a commercial or a TV show." Kurt smiled slightly at Blaine's comment.

"I hate neighborhoods like this… the houses all look the same," Kurt replied.

"Promise me that we'll never live somewhere like this… I don't want a house that looks exactly like every other one on the street."

"Deal. It's almost 7:30… we should probably go inside."

"I think they're going to hate me for not telling them. Especially Jacob. He trusted me…"

"We won't know what's going to happen until we go in there… and I think at this point it's going to be worse if we're late." Blaine nodded, sighing as he got out of the car. The two started approaching the front door, holding hands. Blaine started to ring the doorbell, but he stopped an inch or so away from the bell.

"I don't know if I can do this…"

"The sooner you push that button, the sooner we know what's going to happen. No more worrying about how they're going to react," Kurt pointed out. Blaine nodded, pushing the little button and sticking his free hand into the pocket of his slacks as he waited.

Blaine was sort of glad to see the petite blonde girl from his father's photo opening the door. He wasn't sure how the three of his siblings he'd already met would react to seeing him standing there. "Alright… which one of you is the mysterious brother we're supposed to be meeting?"

"That would be me," Blaine replied. He watched as the girl looked him over before she stepped out of the way to let them into the house.

"I was expecting another blond… we're all blond here." Blaine couldn't help but smirk at the _Alice in Wonderland_ reference in her comment.

"My mother was Hispanic…"

"It shows." Blaine wasn't sure how to respond to that, especially given the fact that he didn't even know his sister's name yet.

"Danielle, it would probably have been wise to actually introduce yourself." Blaine looked up, taking a deep breath as he saw Mrs. Anderson coming down the stairs. "I see you brought… your boyfriend, is it?"

"Yes… this is Kurt Hummel." Blaine glanced at Kurt, shooting him a smile. Kurt was the only thing he had to hold onto at that moment, and he wasn't about to let go of the boy. He watched as she gave Kurt an appraising look as well, before nodding.

"Well, you have good taste going for you if nothing else. The dining room's this way." Blaine felt Kurt squeeze his hand gently as they followed the woman into the other room, where Danielle and Dylan were already seated at the ridiculously long dining table. "Edward couldn't make it home from school this weekend because of finals… his start Monday morning and he needed the extra time to study. I believe you already met Dylan, and Samuel and Jacob should be down in a few minutes."

"Hey Dylan… it's nice to see you again."

"_You're_ our half-brother? Seriously?" Blaine nodded in response to Dylan's question. "Great. I have not one but two gay brothers… I'm never going to live this down at school."

"You don't have to tell them… I'm still not sure I even want to be involved in all of this," Blaine admitted as he and Kurt sat down across the table from the two siblings that were already there.

"We'll discuss all of that after dinner. Which should start in a few minutes, if the others will come down to the table any time soon," Mrs. Anderson replied.

"So the two of you are together… how far have you gone?" Blaine felt as though his eyes were going to pop out of his head at Danielle's question.

"Young lady, that is really none of your business. You should apologize for asking such a personal question of someone you barely know."

"He's my half-brother… shouldn't that cancel out the fact that I barely know him?"

"Danielle, Blaine and Kurt are guests in our house. You need to treat them as such, no matter what your relationship with them might be." Blaine glanced up as he heard his father's voice coming from the doorway. "Samuel is finishing up some video he's supposed to watch for his history class, and Jacob got back from practice late so he's still changing. They'll be down in a minute."

The silence was uncomfortable as they waited for the last two members of the family to join them at the table. Blaine really wasn't sure how Jacob would react to seeing him there – especially with Kurt in tow – but he knew that it was only a matter of time before he would find out.

"Sorry… I couldn't get this stupid tie to work." Blaine didn't turn around as he heard Jacob's voice, wondering how the younger boy was going to react. "Blaine? What are you doing here?"

"Blaine is here to meet the family. Something that should have happened a long time ago." Blaine glanced at his father as the man spoke. "Sit down, boys… we'll discuss everything while we eat."

A tense silence filled the room as everyone waited for dinner to be served, and Blaine couldn't help but fidget a bit in his seat as he waited for someone else to start the conversation that he knew was coming.

"So… how long has Blaine known about us?" The question that came from Danielle's mouth wasn't exactly how Blaine expected all of this to start.

"Two months or so. It wasn't until after my mom died that I even saw our father for the first time," Blaine explained.

"So you knew when we met?" Jacob asked. Blaine nodded.

"It was still new to me… I was asked to keep my distance, and that's what I did. And I tried to get out of meeting you so I could do that without having to keep it all a secret."

"You didn't want to meet us."

"I didn't want to lie or keep secrets about anything. What I told you was the truth… I just never mentioned names or details. I didn't want to screw things up, because I wanted to get to know all of you… and the only way I knew I could get what I wanted was to do what he asked of me," Blaine replied, looking at his father as he spoke. He felt Kurt squeezing his hand under the table again and squeezed back.

"So why are you here now?" Dylan asked.

"Ask your parents. They're the ones who wanted me to come tonight… this is happening the way they want it to. I'm just doing what I'm asked. If I'd had my way, I would have been here as soon as I knew anything about having siblings or a family other than my mom."

"We were just trying to protect the family…" Mrs. Anderson began.

"You were just trying to protect your political career, you mean." Blaine looked up as he heard Samuel's voice. "So what, now you're trying to use the sympathy card to gain votes in the election coming up? Make some kind of big deal about how you're so understanding and accepting because you're okay with having two gay sons – one of which is actually the child of your husband's former mistress?"

"Samuel…"

"No… don't try and give me some fake explanation about what's going on here, Mom… I know you. You're trying to use Blaine. You're using the fact that he wants to have a family to blackmail him into giving you _exactly_ what you want. And that's _not_ okay."

"It's not blackmail," Mrs. Anderson replied.

"It doesn't matter! You're still using him!" Blaine shook his head, pushing back from the table and sighing.

"This was a bad idea. Kurt, we should just go…"

"Blaine… you need to eat something," Kurt whispered, trying to keep his voice down because he wasn't sure whether or not Blaine wanted his father's family to know that he wasn't perfectly healthy.

"It can wait until we find somewhere to stop on the way back to Lima… I don't need to stay here for this."

"Blaine… please just wait a minute. Samuel doesn't understand…"

"I think that Samuel understands everything just as well as I do in this situation… so if you asked me to come tonight for some reason other than what he just said, please tell me what it is. Because right now I can't think of any reason why you would want me here unless there was something in it for you. I'm the other woman's son – the black mark on your perfect family. I know that you want nothing to do with me, so please don't pretend that you want me to be here for any reason other than your own personal gain."

"You shouldn't talk to her that way…" Blaine's father began. Blaine shook his head, biting down on his bottom lip for a moment.

"Why shouldn't I tell her the truth? I don't want to be used. I want to know my siblings, but I'd rather be an orphan than deal with this kind of crap…"

"I'm sorry, Blaine. I wish that there was some way you could have a different impression of me. You don't have to be involved in anything you're uncomfortable with, including any publicity surrounding my campaign. But I hope that you'll at least consider being part of our family outside of all that. And I also hope that you'll at least stay long enough to eat. I don't want to be responsible for you making yourself ill by not eating to avoid me." Blaine nodded as Mrs. Anderson folded her hands, sighing.

"I don't know that it would be a good idea for me to stay tonight. I think it would be better if we all had some time to calm down," Blaine replied. "And I need some time to think about what I want to do. I have a lot on my plate right now… there's just too much going on, and I don't want to screw this up by jumping into anything that I might regret later. Not when I have so much to lose…"

"I can promise you that you won't lose anything, Blaine." He shook his head, sighing.

"I can't believe that. Not yet, anyway. I have no reason to trust anything that either of you say right now… and I'm not going to risk everything I've worked so hard to get. Not now, when things are finally starting to get back to something resembling normal."


	13. Final Decisions

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Glee or any of these characters… if I did, Karofsky wouldn't exist anymore, Jesse wouldn't have been such an asshole (albeit one I believe legitimately fell for Rachel), and there would be a LOT more Blaine.

**A/n: Okay, so I've been slack. I was having a difficult time figuring out how to end this story, but I think I've finally figured it out. I hope you enjoy!**

Frankly, exams were a bit of a bitch. And given everything going on in Blaine's life outside of school, he was just praying that his grades would all come back as passing. As soon as graduation was over – which Blaine and Kurt had to stay on campus for because it was tradition that the Warblers perform – the two had packed up their things from the dorm and driven back to Lima in their respective vehicles.

It hadn't exactly been a fun process; Kurt's Navigator had to be loaded down with enough designer clothing to make up three or four fashion shows (which Blaine had to admit was pretty funny considering the fact that they had worn uniforms to class every day) and all of the pictures and posters and things from their walls had to be carefully packed away so they wouldn't get damaged. The whole process was ridiculously tedious and time-consuming, and given the amount of packing Blaine had done in the past few months he was really sick of it before he even got halfway through his packing. But the boys made it home easily enough, and managed to get mostly unpacked before the end of the weekend.

Monday morning came around again too quickly for anyone's liking, which meant that Kurt was going to the shop with his dad to help out a bit so that some of the other mechanics who had kids could take some vacation time without leaving Burt short-handed. Which meant that since McKinley still had another week of school, Blaine either had to get up in the morning and go to the shop with Burt and Kurt or spend the bulk of his day home alone because Carole was working most of the time. Which was why Blaine was up at six AM, dressed in an old pair of jeans and a tee shirt he didn't mind getting dirty.

"You're up early." Blaine smiled slightly as Burt commented on the fact that he'd already gotten up and dressed.

"I was actually thinking I might go to the shop with you and Kurt… do something useful." Blaine busied himself finding something to eat for breakfast as he waited for Burt's response. He hoped that Burt would be willing to let him do _something_ at the shop.

"I'm not sure I have a whole lot you would know how to do…"

"I'm willing to learn. Even if it's just working in the office… I just need something to do, really."

"Well, I guess I could use some help with some of the filing… I usually have Kurt work on all of that for the first couple of days he's back from school. It'll keep you busy for a while, I'm sure." Blaine nodded, smiling slightly as he buttered a piece of toast and grabbed a banana from the bowl. "Make sure to eat a good breakfast, though. And bring yourself a snack or two… it'll be after one before we take a lunch break. I try to keep the shop open while most of the people in town are on their breaks." Blaine nodded as he started eating, wandering around the kitchen to put together a couple of quick, healthy snacks he could put into his bag.

"You're up early." Blaine smiled slightly as Kurt pressed a kiss against his cheek while Burt was sitting on the other side of the room.

"Blaine offered to come help out at the shop…" Burt began.

"He's paying you, right?" Kurt asked. Blaine shrugged.

"Minimum wage, for now. Once he's learned how to do something more than the office work, we can talk about getting something more than that."

"It'll still probably be a better paycheck than my last job. I was the new guy, so I got the days no one else wanted to work. I was lucky to get one day a week…"

"If I have the work and you want to be there, the two of you can come in every day. But when things get slow I'll have to cut the two of you first… the guys all have bills and families."

"I care more about having something to do than having the paycheck…"

"Don't worry too much about it… he just felt like he needed to say that. It doesn't get that slow very often." Blaine nodded, starting to eat his breakfast as Kurt puttered around the kitchen making a cup of coffee. He smiled as the boy put a second cup down next to his plate. "Skim milk, no sugar."

"Thank you." Blaine gently let his head rest against Kurt's shoulder for a moment with a slight smile as he ate his breakfast, offering a bite of his banana to Kurt.

"You need to have something else to eat…"

"I'm not that hungry right now… I was going to just eat something a little later."

"You know what I'm going to say," Kurt replied. Blaine raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"I think I know what I'm doing, Kurt."

"He can take care of himself, kid. Blaine's almost an adult, just like you." Blaine smiled slightly at Burt's comment, watching Kurt roll his eyes.

"I'm just trying to make sure he's okay…"

"And I'm sure he appreciates the thought, but you need to let Blaine watch out for himself for now… he's not always going to have you to watch out for him, and he needs to get used to doing all of this for himself." Blaine felt Kurt reaching down to squeeze his hand.

"He's right… I appreciate the fact that you care, but I might not always have you to look out for me."

"I don't plan on ever leaving you…" Kurt began.

"But we might not end up going to the same college or even end up in the same city for school."

"I would follow you."

"I don't want you to follow me. I want you to be happy, and I want you to go to the school that's right for you. You shouldn't let what I do determine what you'll do." Blaine continued eating his breakfast, hoping that Kurt would understand what he meant. Blaine didn't want to be responsible for Kurt doing anything that might interfere with his plans for the future. "No matter how much we love each other, Kurt, we can't follow each other around. One of us will end up resenting the other, and in the end we'll hate each other because of it. It'll ruin everything."

"I don't want a long-distance relationship…"

"Neither do I… but we can't let that interfere with our lives." Blaine looked up as Burt cleared his throat.

"You boys can finish this conversation later… we need to get to the shop soon if we're going to open on time today. I've got two people coming in first thing before they go to work, and I don't want to make them late."

* * *

Being at the shop with Kurt and his dad was definitely preferable to being stuck in the house all day. The filing tasks Burt had given Blaine were easy enough, and Kurt ducked in pretty regularly to say hello or even steal a kiss. The only daunting thing about the whole task was that Burt had really let things pile up and it was going to take Blaine a while to get everything sorted out.

"My dad's a little disorganized…" Kurt commented as he sat on the edge of the desk, eating a sandwich during his lunch break.

"A little?" Blaine scoffed. He smiled as his boyfriend laughed.

"Okay… so as a businessman he's kind of hopeless. But he's a brilliant mechanic. And he has at least kept the shop going all this time, so he's been doing _something_ right."

"I have a feeling that you and your mom have had a lot to do with this… the filing system he uses when you aren't here is a complete mess."

"There is no system… it usually just gets put down wherever I happen to be when I get done with it, because normally I don't have the time or the luxury of having someone to help me with all of this." Blaine turned towards the door as Burt walked in with another invoice to add to one of the stacks. The fact that his boyfriend's father had overheard that was a little embarrassing, although thankfully not nearly as embarrassing as some of the other topics they could have been talking about in the privacy of the office.

"Sorry… I shouldn't have…"

"It's okay… I know I'm a mess. It's why I had Kurt start working for me as soon as he was old enough. I don't even trust my own skills at doing the inventory around here. I'm more concerned with getting the cars fixed. The business side of things is a necessary evil…" Blaine nodded, going back to the stack of papers he was working on while he ate. "When you get done with lunch, I have a couple of errands you boys can go run. We're nearly out of drinks for the fridge in the lobby, and I need you to run yesterday's deposit to the bank."

"No problem… we'll take care of it after lunch." Blaine watched as Burt started to walk out of the room.

"Oh, and Blaine… you don't have to work while you eat. Take a real break." Blaine nodded, putting down the paperwork that he had been working on.

"I told you that you didn't have to do that… technically you're not supposed to, anyway. You're supposed to be taking a break." Blaine leaned back in his chair. "You're doing a good job, for what it's worth. It's not the easiest thing to figure out the filing system from scratch, and this office is always a big mess."

"I'm just doing what I was asked to do." Blaine ate a few more bites of his lunch as they sat there in a comfortable silence. After a few minutes, Blaine sighed. "We should probably get moving… I still have a lot to do this afternoon."

"You do realize that he's giving us this task so that we can get out of here for a couple of hours, right? Besides, you have all summer to get it figured out and finish all of this. A bit of time off this afternoon isn't going to make that much difference." Blaine was surprised when Kurt stood up and walked over from his place on the couch to where Blaine was seated in the desk chair. The countertenor perched himself in the chair so that he was sitting on Blaine's lap without really putting all of his weight on the older boy.

"Anyone could walk in right now…"

"And if they do? All of the guys know I'm gay, and I'm pretty sure they've figured out that you're actually my boyfriend."

"Your _dad_ could walk in again."

"We're on our lunch breaks. Besides, I'm pretty sure he expects things like this to happen every once in a while. We _are_ teenaged boys, after all…" Blaine couldn't help but smile as Kurt leaned over and pressed a kiss against his lips, even if he was still a little nervous about everything.

"That doesn't mean it's okay for us to be careless…"

"It's just a kiss." Blaine closed his eyes as Kurt leaned in again. "Or two."

"Or three," Blaine replied, leaning in to kiss Kurt on his own this time. They continued kissing for a few moments, neither boy particularly wanting to stop and both knowing that they had to keep it PG because anyone could walk in at any moment.

"Three is a _very_ good number," Kurt joked, pulling away after a moment. "See? No harm done."

"So maybe you're right and I should relax a little bit…"

"You need to do a lot of relaxing, babe. Sometimes I feel like you think you have to _make_ my dad like you."

"I _am_ the boyfriend here… it's kind of normal for me to be at least a little afraid of your father," Blaine began.

"Except for the fact that you live with us, and my family loves you. If we hadn't already been practically dating when you moved in, I would have thought of you like a brother."

"If we hadn't practically been dating, would your parents have let me move in? I mean, if we hadn't been so close to each other. Because most people wouldn't have just taken in a random kid they barely knew."

"You weren't just some random kid, Blaine."

"But what if I had been? What if things had been different? I didn't have anywhere else to go…"

"Yes, you did. You had Wes and David… and honestly, probably all of the other Warblers, too. You had a lot of friends who would have been there for you even if we hadn't met. Because you might not see it, but you're really important. To a lot of people." Blaine closed his eyes as Kurt leaned in and pressed a soft kiss against his lips. "We should probably get moving. Those errands aren't going to do themselves…"

"If only they were asexual…"

* * *

Blaine wasn't really sure what he was doing here. He hadn't told Kurt or his father where he was going – they thought that he was going to see Nick. And he was… but first he had to deal with his father's family.

"I wasn't expecting to see you today, Blaine." Blaine looked up and sighed at the sound of his father's voice.

"I can't do this. I've thought about it, and I've made the decision… I don't want to be involved in this campaign mess. I can't deal with any more drama and stress than I already have on my plate."

"Why don't you come inside, and we'll talk about all of this."

"I don't particularly want to talk about it," Blaine replied. "I'm not going to change my mind about this, no matter what you say."

"We do at least need to talk about how we're going to handle all of this. Without you being forced into that spotlight."

"I didn't know there was anything else to discuss," Blaine replied. He crossed his arms, standing his ground. "I figured this was over if I said no."

"You're my son. You're their half-brother… I'm not going to stop you from seeing them if that's what you want."

"But your wife…"

"Is on board with whatever you choose." Blaine looked past his father as he heard the woman's voice. "I was wrong, Blaine. I shouldn't have kept you away from us for so long. And I'm sorry for the pain that my decisions caused you. So we're going to make this right."

"How can you possibly make this right?"

"That's what we're going to figure out. Together. As a family."


End file.
